Driverless trucks pass another U.S. Army test

DALLAS, June 11 (UPI) -- A New series of tests validating the capabilities of driverless trucks has been conducted by the U.S. Army and Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin, developer of the Autonomous Mobility Appliqué System, or AMAS, used on the vehicles, said a total of seven trucks were used in the autonomous convoy tests held at the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site in South Carolina.

The vehicles used were a Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles truck, a Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement vehicle, two Palletized Load System trucks, two M915 Line-Haul Tractors and one Heavy Equipment Transport.

The autonomous convoy demonstrations involved the vehicles operating at speeds of as much as 40 miles per hour, doubling the speed of convoys in an earlier capabilities advancement demonstration by Lockheed and the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center.

"I would describe these tests as a successful demonstration of the maturing capabilities of AMAS technology," said David Simon, AMAS program manager for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "We will conduct further safety testing within the next month, and the program will execute a six-week operational demonstration in the July-August timeframe, during which time soldiers and Marines will assess the system benefits in realistic convoy operations."

AMAS hardware and software automate the driving task on current tactical vehicles, and includes a special sensor and algorithms.

AMAS is installed as a kit and can be used on any military vehicle.