Autonomous Solutions, Inc. (ASI), a provider of industrial vehicle autonomation solutions, has received Phase I funding from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Ground Vehicles Systems Center to improve the way heavy vehicles stop while operating autonomously.
“Bringing large autonomous vehicles to a safe stop in varying environments can be challenging,” said Jeff Ferrin, Chief Technology Officer of ASI, in a press release. “Having additional funding from the U.S. Army to further develop this technology will help us make autonomous vehicles safer, which is always our number-one priority.”
The U.S. Army aims to develop and demonstrate a system that can be operated remotely and considers both the dynamics of the vehicle, as well as the environment, to bring a large ground vehicle to a complete stop despite the terrain.
“ASI has been working on terrain characterization with the Army since 2014,” said Ferrin. “This project will use similar technology to make sure the vehicle is aware of the terrain around it. This model of the terrain will then be used by the vehicle to ensure a safer stop is completed.”
ASI serves clients across the world in the mining, agriculture, automotive, government and manufacturing industries with remote control, teleoperation and fully automated solutions from its headquarters and 100-acre test site in northern Utah.
The new technology will continuously monitor the interaction between a vehicle and its surroundings and update the internal model that is used to properly halt the vehicle. This process will allow the vehicle to learn and adapt as the terrain and environment change.
The eventual goal is to deploy the system in ASI’s autonomous vehicles across multiple industries, including agriculture, automotive, construction haulage, mining, facility robotics and more.