Military platooning

The US army has hit the road with autonomous trucks in a real-world trial

Michigan motorists might have not believed they were driving next to the future of warfare, but as the webiste wired.com has reported, the latest autonomous trucks went rolling down the highway by themselves recently.

Late last month, the army dropped these four autonomous trucks into real Michigan traffic, with human drivers aboard as backups. Over 11 kilometres, the vehicles used cameras and LIDAR to watch the road.

They used dedicated short-range radio to chat with each other and even with Michigan’s Department of Transport to get advance notice of things like changing speed limits and closed lanes ahead.

The US Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center is not the only big organisation experimenting with autonomous trucks. We already know that the big European manufacturers are working in this space, too. But the US Army’s involvement could make armed conflict a lot safer for soldiers.

In 10 to 15 years, army engineers say, fully autonomous truck convoys will be ready to serve in conflict zones: "We do want to get soldiers out of the convoy vehicles, in case they could be on roads with IEDs," says Alex Kade, who helps direct the Army’s research into ground vehicle robotics. Automated trucks could deliver supplies around bases, or resupply soldiers at far-flung outposts.

Despite ethical questions around robotic warfare, the US military is pushing ahead with autonomous technology, with everything from self-flying helicopters to robo-snipers, and predator drones.

But, for the trucks at least, there are challenges ahead. Like most other autonomous vehicles, the technology will need to reliably spot obstacles and use advanced computation to make split-second decisions, just like human drivers. It’ll have to navigate places where they can’t communicate with infrastructure, and where road markings markings, signs, and the roads themselves are out-of-date, poorly maintained or even non-existent.

Military platooning

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