Defence looks to take to open road with Australian technology
The Australian Army fleet has stolen an autonomous trucks march on the civilian on-road trucking sector, reporting success in recent trials.
The $3.5 million project to develop truck platooning technology passed a key milestone during a recent two-week project at the Department of Defence’s Trials Proving Establishment at Monegeetta, Victoria that involved a five-vehicle convoy.
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The autonomous leader-follower vehicle technology, using modified Rheinmetall MAN Land 121 40M rigid medium truck, was developed under a contract between the Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation (IISRI) at Deakin University, and Army’s Robotic and Autonomous Systems Implementation and Coordination Office (RICO).
The Army, through RICO, continues to work with IISRI and the Australian Road Research Board on the potential transfer of the capability testing onto public roads with further refinement, performance enhancement and understanding of road rules.
“There are a number of technical and regulatory challenges to address to get these platforms into common use,” defence industry minister Melissa Price said.
“The ongoing efforts will enable Army to navigate these challenges.”
The federal government sees development of robotic and autonomous systems as crucial to meeting Australia’s future operational issues, including for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and in combat operations.
Read about Singapore’s recent autonomous trucks trial, here
“The completion of this assessment within one year of the allocation of the funding demonstrates the strong industry and Defence partnerships in experimentation, prototyping and exploration of autonomous vehicle and new technologies,” Price said.
“These technologies are ‘disruptive technologies’ that provide marked advantages on the modern battlefield by bolstering ADF capability while protecting Australian personnel.”
Video of the trial can be found at https://youtu.be/3Fq9CTVTpVI
Army’s Robotic & Autonomous Systems Strategy can be found here.