Textron Systems [TXT] on Monday announced a new collaboration with Kodiak Robotics to develop a new autonomous military ground vehicle designed for driverless operations, with a plan to demonstrate the new capability in late 2024.
The effort will focus on integrating the Kodiak Driver autonomous driving software into a new Textron-designed, purpose-built uncrewed vehicle, with the companies noting the collaboration is the first time applying Kodiak’s self-driving technology into a vehicle designed “without space for a human driver.”
“The collaboration between [Textron], a leader in military ground vehicles, and Kodiak, a dual-use autonomous driving company for military and commercial applications, represents a unique model for bringing cutting-edge artificial intelligence-powered, autonomous technologies to military customers. It also demonstrates the readiness of the Kodiak Driver for driverless operations as well as its adaptability to a diverse range of vehicle types, both on- and off-road,” Textron said in a statement.
David Phillips, Textron’s senior vice president of land and sea systems, told Defense Daily the company is “not currently divulging” specific details on the vehicle that will host Kodiak’s autonomy software, and noted this effort is separate from its work on the Army’s Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) program.
“As an industry leader in the development of robotic platforms, we’re always interested in advancing the systems we provide separate from any program requirement, and in this case with an industry leader – Kodiak. This collaboration is independent of any program but we’re always looking for opportunities to further the maturation, adaptability and open architecture of our systems. We’re interested in accelerating autonomy in robotics for use in the battlefield for domestic and international customers, and working with Kodiak enhances our ability to do so,” Phillips said.
The Army’s RCV program is currently in an initial competitive prototyping phase, having selected Textron as well as General Dynamics Land Systems [GD], Oshkosh Defense [OSK] and McQ Inc. this past fall to each deliver two test platforms by August 2024 (Defense Daily, Sept. 21 2023).
Those four firms were awarded a combined total of $24.7 million for phase one of the RCV program, with the Army planning to ultimately select one company in fiscal year 2025 to deliver nine prototypes before making a production decision in FY ‘27.
Textron has previously detailed its Ripsaw M3 offering for RCV, with a team including its Howe & Howe subsidiary and Teledyne FLIR [TDY], noting it has 63-square feet of flat deck space for payload integration, features a hybrid-electric drive design and can reach speeds above 30 miles per hour (Defense Daily, June 7 2023).
The Ripsaw M3 weighs 18,000 pounds, a 13,000-pound curb weight and 5,000-pound payload capacity, which is below the Army’s 21,000-pound requirement for RCV, according to Textron.
“The work we’re doing [with Kodiak] supports our family of uncrewed ground vehicles – they all share the same mature, modular open systems architecture and the same robotic core which makes integration of autonomous technology feasible with any vehicle in the family,” Phillips told Defense Daily on Monday. “Our family of uncrewed ground vehicles are durable, rugged and reliable. This effort with Kodiak accelerates the integration of autonomy into the systems and provides an opportunity to showcase the autonomy readiness of our systems.”
Kodiak Robotics is also one of eight companies the Army and DoD’s Defense Innovation Unit have selected to work on prototyping autonomous software and processes for the RCV program, specifically selecting the company, as well as Forterra, Neya Systems and Overland AI, to focus on autonomous navigation (Defense Daily, April 3).
“The future of autonomous military ground vehicles is dual-use technology developers like Kodiak working with industry leaders like Textron Systems,” Don Burnette, founder and CEO of Kodiak, said in a statement on Monday. “Collaborating with Textron Systems will allow us to showcase the capabilities of Kodiak’s AI-powered, driverless technology in military, off-road environments. Together, we can bring new capabilities to ground systems, supporting the warfighter at the speed of relevance.”
Textron said the self-driving vehicle being developed will utilize the same core technology that’s on Kodiak’s autonomous long-haul trucks and will feature new Kodiak DefensePods, described as “an adapted version of Kodiak’s modular, swappable SensorPods, designed for military use.”
“DefensePods are pre-calibrated, pre-built hardware enclosures that include the sensors necessary for autonomous driving,” Textron said in a statement. “A technician without specialized training can swap out a DefensePod in the field in 10 minutes or less.”