Arkansas Trucking Association

U.S. Army to test autonomous driving

The U.S. Army plans a highway test this summer of driverless convoy technology to examine how the vehicles communicate with one another, with nonmilitary vehicles and with the roadway infrastructure through radio links.

The test will take place in June with at least four vehicles on a stretch of highway in Michigan..

The autonomous vehicles have been tested in self-driving mode before but not on public roads.

“We’re very sensitive to the safety of our engineers and our neighbors on the roadways,” said Douglas Halleaux, an Army spokesman.

The Army is “taking this extra step with the radios before we make the big plunge to give our engineers and the public confidence in the trucks’ capabilities,” he said.

If the Army’s experiment proves successful, autonomous technology my find more acceptance among regulators, the public and the trucking industry, said Stephen Viscelli, a visiting assistant professor at Swarthmore College who studies trucking.

“The commercial applications are absolutely enormous,” Viscelli said. “It’s going to be revolutionary.”