By Luke Voogt
The Australian Army’s mission to develop artificial intelligence to drive its tanks and trucks has resulted in a new $3.5 million contract for Deakin University.
The technology could allow troop-carrying vehicles, like trucks and armoured personnel carriers, to operate without drivers.
The army and the federal government are pursuing driverless technology to keep more drivers and vehicle crew out of harm’s way during operations.
Deakin’s Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation (IISRI) director Saeid Nahavandi said the self-driving technology could be retrofitted to old and new vehicles including tanks.
The ability to adapt the technology to existing tanks, transporters, bulldozers and trucks was one of its “key advantages”, he said.
Advanced sensors and the institute’s “home-grown” software algorithms powered the “vehicle agnostic” technology, Professor Nahavandi explained.
This allowed the vehicles to perform “very safe and trustworthy manoeuvres” in challenging terrain, he said.
“This technology gives vehicles enormous autonomous capability so that a group of vehicles can move from A to B quite easily.
“Driving on a highway or cruising around an urban area is one thing.
“But our technology allows these vehicles to travel off-road in far more complex, unstructured, rough terrain – over river beds and through creeks – even when there’s no markings on the ground.”
Professor Nahavandi said the technology stems from his research findings in sensory technology and robotics over the past 30 years.
“Aspects of the bolt-on pack will also have the capability to be used in air and sea domains and the technology can easily be adopted in other non-defence sectors such as transportation and logistics, mining and agriculture, all of which are of immense value to the Australian economy.”
The contract is part of a $12.2 million federal investment in industry contracts to increase the army’s experimentation, prototyping and exploration of autonomous vehicle and emerging technologies.
Government also awarded a $2.9 million contract in late 2018 to IISRI for the development phase of the project.
Deakin University deputy vice-chancellor of research Professor Julie Owens said said the work was part of a “proud” partnership with the Australian Defence Force that began in 2006.
