US military tests self-driving vehicles

The US military has conducted trials of autonomous vehicles in a military convoy. Lockheed Martin’s software and hardware should allow the military vehicles to drive through normal traffic without a driver.

The so-called autonomous mobility appliqué system that Lockheed Martin has developed consists of a module that can be placed on various military vehicles. The amas system uses, among other things, lidar lasers and high-precision GPS receivers to determine the position of the vehicle and to recognize obstacles.

During a US military trial, a number of vehicles with the amas system drove driverless in a military convoy through an environment with normal traffic conditions. According to Lockheed Martin, the vehicles could respond correctly to complex intersections, oncoming traffic and pedestrians, among other things.

The amas system has been tested on M915 trucks and pls vehicles, but Lockheed Martin claims that other military vehicles can also be controlled autonomously. With systems such as amas, the US military wants to eventually be able to replace vulnerable positions such as drivers in the cab of a vehicle with digital systems.