Skip to main content

NAMC advances autonomous vehicle testing for US soldiers

Over the next year, American soldiers will be testing autonomous vehicles as part of a competition by National Advanced Mobility Consortium (NAMC). The systems to be tested come from four shortlisted companies: a group compiled of Applied Research Associates, Neya Systems and Polaris; General Dynamics Land Systems; HDT Expeditionary Systems; Howe & Howe Technologies. NAMC chose the companies after testing ten concepts under the Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport vehicles project. Each company will
June 5, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
© F11photo | Dreamstime.com

Over the next year, American soldiers will be testing autonomous vehicles as part of a competition by National Advanced Mobility Consortium (8799 NAMC).

The systems to be tested come from four shortlisted companies: a group compiled of Applied Research Associates, Neya Systems and Polaris; General Dynamics Land Systems; HDT Expeditionary Systems; Howe & Howe Technologies.

NAMC chose the companies after testing ten concepts under the Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport vehicles project. Each company will receive up to $5 million towards the testing and trial of their system, according to NAM, the industry arm of the Defense Mobility Enterprise (DME).

The DME, which is focused on attracting organisations not already working with the government, speeds the acquisition process to ensure innovations assist soldiers as soon as possible. The DME also allows more commercial-type intellectual property protections.

NAMC says that since 2008 its R&D projects have yielded defence projects valued at more than $450 million. The group says that it is recognised as the effective, established consortium for research, development, prototyping and production for manned and unmanned autonomy-enabled military ground vehicle systems and related technologies in the US. 

Booth 116

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Transport in the round
    October 13, 2015
    The ITF’s Mary Crass tells Colin Sowman why future transport demands will require governments to overcome the silo effect of individual single-modal authorities. The only global multimodal transport policy organisation,” is how Mary Crass describes the International Transport Forum (ITF), which is housed at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). As head of policy and summit preparation at the ITF she says: “All other organisations are either regional or have a modal focus, we cove
  • Indiana's Future Mobility District gets going
    March 9, 2021
    First services include May Mobility's autonomous vehicle shuttles in Indianapolis
  • Regulating rural road use
    June 20, 2016
    David Crawford looks at problems facing indigenous communities and those unfamiliar with driving in rural areas. While it is well known that the fatality rate for road crashes in rural areas is higher than in towns and cities, some groups suffer far more than others. For instance, the rates of death and serious injury from vehicle accidents is much higher for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI and AN) populations living in rural tribal lands than for any of the country’s other ethnic populations. Crashes
  • New research identifies impact of autonomous vehicles on trucking industry
    November 16, 2016
    A new report from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) identifies the potential impacts of autonomous vehicle technology on the trucking industry, which include significant safety and productivity benefits that may result from autonomous technology adoption. The analysis mapped potential autonomous vehicle impacts to the trucking industry's top ten issues as surveyed annually by ATRI. From hours-of-service to the driver shortage to driver health and wellness, benefits and challenges to co