Autonomous convoy

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This development effort continues and additional demonstrations are expected soon.

As reported by I-HLS the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and Lockheed Martin have demonstrated the ability of fully autonomous convoys to operate in urban environments with multiple vehicles of different models.

The first demonstration at Fort Hood, Texas, was part of the Army and Marine Corps’ Autonomous Mobility Applique System (AMAS) program, and marked the completion of the program’s Capabilities Advancement Demonstration (CAD).

The test involved driverless tactical vehicles navigating hazards and obstacles such as road intersections, oncoming traffic, stalled and passing vehicles, pedestrians and traffic circles in both urban and rural test areas.

The AMAS hardware and software are designed to automate the driving task on current tactical vehicles. The Unmanned Mission Module part of AMAS, which includes a high performance LIDAR sensor, a second GPS receiver and additional algorithms, is installed as a kit and can be used on virtually any military vehicle. In the CAD demonstration, the kit was integrated onto the Army’s M915 trucks and the Palletized Loading System (PLS) vehicle.