This might come as a surprise to some, but self-driving vehicle technology might first be used by Pentagon, rather than Uber, Waymo or Tesla. “We’re going to have self-driving vehicles in the theater for the Army before we’ll have self-driving cars on the streets,” Michael Griffin, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, told lawmakers at a hearing on Capitol Hill this month. “But the core technologies will be the same.”
The U.S Military’s R&D department has been known to innovate things like GPS, the Internet, and even Jeep. So, it should not be unsurprising if Pentagon pushes its limit once again. Pentagon plans to build up on the work already done by private companies and introduce self-driving battle-ready vehicles. This will reduce the loss of life that occurs due to army personnel venturing into the battlefield delivering resources and rations.
Pentagon has the upper hand here as funds aren’t a problem for them. Currently, they have set $700 billion budget for the self-driving vehicle project that includes research and development of autonomous tanks, bomb-disarming robots, and more. The U.S army plans to use modern technology to aid in reconnaissance missions.
Although this plan seems positive, many have called out and that includes resistance from Silicon Valley employees who are opposing to share their work on the autonomous technology with the military to manufacture weapons.
Recently, a death was caused by an autonomous vehicle that prompted halting of research on the technology. It will be interesting to see though, who would be able to ride the wave to the end, as private firms are working hard to perfect the self-driving vehicle technology.