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California-based self-driving technology developer Kodiak Robotics is partnering with defense manufacturing firm Textron Systems to build military ground vehicles specifically designed for driverless operations. Kodiak Robotics’ industry-leading autonomous system will be integrated into Textron Systems’ purpose-built, uncrewed military vehicle prototype.
Textron Systems, with its decades of experience designing, developing, and manufacturing military ground vehicle systems for land, air, and sea, claims that this collaboration with Kodiak’s AI-powered autonomy software and pioneering modular DefensePods represents a major step forward in delivering a mission-ready autonomous system.
According to Interesting Engineering, the companies intend to begin demonstrating driverless operations later in 2024, then explore future opportunities with both the Pentagon and the militaries of other allied nations as they look to accelerate automation into military ground vehicles.
The idea of deploying uncrewed vehicles to perform high-risk and complex tasks in the field aims to assist the military in removing soldiers from harm’s way while enhancing national security. Don Burnette, founder and CEO of Kodiak, stated: “The future of autonomous military ground vehicles is dual-use technology developers like Kodiak working with industry leaders like Textron Systems. Collaborating with Textron Systems will allow us to showcase the capabilities of Kodiak’s AI-powered, driverless technology in military, off-road environments. Together, we can bring new capabilities to ground systems, supporting the warfighter at the speed of relevance.”
These new driverless military vehicles will reportedly be equipped with the same technology that’s embedded within Kodiak’s autonomous long-haul trucks, which have been validated across close to 3 million miles of real-world operations.
Another feature of the autonomous vehicles will be the DefensePods, an advanced and customized version of Kodiak’s swappable SensorPods. These are pre-built hardware enclosures that include the sensors necessary for autonomous driving, designed for military use.
This information was provided by Interesting Engineering.
