Next Up For Army Base Patrols: Ghostridden SUVs

Hard as it may be to believe, the Army recently took a look at its procedures for keeping bases safe and thought: needs more ghostridden whips.

No, the Army?s not really warming up to the Bay Area practice of putting a car in neutral and hopping out of the driver?s seat to dance on the hood, making it look like the car?s driving itself. But it does want to see a car puttering inside the gates of an Army base in the near future without anyone driving it.

In a solicitation released last week, the Army called for an SUV that drives itself, building on the Darpa Grand Challenge, an effort by the Pentagon?s far-out research branch to spur development of robo-cars. The SUV is meant to be the first of a fleet of autonomous cars that will ?eventually assist base security in performing their patrols.?

The Army absolutely loves autonomous vehicles. Lockheed Martin recently created an add-on kit for Army trucks that use radar and sensors for human-optional driving. Tiny robots like the 30-pound Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle help soldiers spot and defuse bombs. If you stop by the Nevada National Security Site, you?ll see that security for its stockpiles of radioactive waste comes from tan robotic trucks called the Mobile Detection Assessment Response Systems, which have also been in use at the state?s Hawthorne Army Depot. There was even a short-lived plan to send armed robots into Iraq.

You won?t have to worry about weapons from this planned ghost-SUV. But it?s going to be significantly more autonomous than some of the Army?s older models. The SUV is supposed to be under continuous computer control, with a robust autonomous navigation system that can follow waypoints and maneuver around obstacles. Roundabouts, four-way stops, whatever: the SUV should be able to handle the rules of the road without a driver.?If it?s sharing the road with other cars, it should be able to switch lanes ? and signal to you when it?s going to do so.

Do not take this thing on the Long Island Expressway. Although, since the Army wants it to top out at speeds of 25 miles per hour, it might feel like it?s caught in LIE traffic anyway.

Still, the Army?s requesting vendors build its robot SUV with sufficient fail-safes so base security isn?t crippled if a sensor fails. A wireless ?emergency stop? system will be a staple of the car, which can switch to manual driving should the need arise.

Now all the Army needs is some Mac Dre.

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Spencer Ackerman is Danger Room's senior reporter, based out of Washington, D.C., covering weapons of doom and the strategies they're used to implement.
Follow @attackerman and @dangerroom on Twitter.

Source: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/next-up-for-army-base-patrols-ghostridden-suvs/

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