Home Americas US Army partners with Clemson University to develop autonomous vehicles

US Army partners with Clemson University to develop autonomous vehicles

US Army Bradley vehicles
This past summer at Fort Carson, Col., modified Bradley Fighting Vehicles, known as Mission Enabling Technologies Demonstrators, and modified M113 tracked armored personnel carriers, or Robotic Combat Vehicles, were used for the Soldier Operational Experimentation (SOE) Phase 1 to further develop learning objectives for the Manned Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) concept.

The US Army Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) has partnered with the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) for the development of self-driving armored vehicles.

The development will be facilitated by an $18 million investment in a “Virtual Prototyping of Ground Systems (VIPR-GS) Center” that will aim to develop virtual prototyping tools supporting the rapid transformation of US Army fleets.

The research at VIPR-GS will be focused on autonomy-enabled ground vehicles, including digital engineering, next-generation propulsion and energy systems, and manned and unmanned teaming in unknown off-road environments.

“Autonomous systems and connected vehicles are some of the most significant factors shaping the mobility industry today, and the work being done in off-road autonomy is truly the next frontier. CU-ICAR was designed to foster research and partnerships to benefit our future. Through our deep research strengths and interdisciplinary culture, Clemson is uniquely positioned to lead the way in this important work,” said Clemson President Jim Clements.

Researchers will build and validate various virtual models and simulations for off-road vehicles with advanced electrified propulsion, situational intelligence, AI-enabled autonomy and team-routing algorithms. The Center will support one of the Army Big Six Modernization Priorities – developing next-generation combat vehicles – by providing tools for technology roadmaps and hardware demonstrations.

“The VIPR Center will be an essential part of a Ground Vehicle Modeling and Simulation Alliance that GVSC will rely on as it leads the US Army in the integration of new capabilities into military ground vehicles,” said David Gorsich, US GVSC Chief Scientist.