U.S. Army convoys could be made safer for soldiers by implementing autonomous vehicle technology to reduce the number of service members needed to operate the vehicles, according to a new study from the RAND Corporation.

1. NEWS RELEASE 12-FEB-2020
Autonomous vehicle technology may improve safety
for US Army convoys, report says
RAND CORPORATION
U.S. Army convoys could be made safer for soldiers by implementing autonomous vehicle technology to reduce the
number of service members needed to operate the vehicles, according to a new study from the RAND Corporation.
"The Army is interested in autonomous technology because if they can reduce the number of soldiers needed to run a
convoy, they can keep soldiers safe," said Shawn McKay, lead author of the study and a senior engineer with RAND, a
nonpro t research organization.
McKay and his colleagues examined three di erent autonomous vehicle concepts: the fully autonomous employment
concept, where all the vehicles are unmanned; the partially unmanned employment concept, featuring a lead truck with
soldiers followed by unmanned vehicles in a convoy; and minimally manned, a "bridging" concept featuring a soldier in the
driver's seat of each of the follower trucks to monitor the automated system and driving environment.
A minimally manned Army convoy put 28 percent fewer soldiers at risk compared to current practices. A partially
unmanned convoy would put 37 percent fewer soldiers at risk, and a fully autonomous convoy would put 78 percent fewer
soldiers at risk.
The technology to make an Army convoy fully autonomous doesn't exist yet. McKay said part of the challenge for the Army
is that current automated technology is still limited and has mainly been tested in settings with well-manicured
infrastructure, including standardized road markings and signs.
"We're looking at a combat environment - it's very complex," McKay said. "An Army convoy could be operating in a Third
World environment where road markings and road conditions are very poor, there's open terrain, there's herds of animals,
and you're under combat situations."
"With current technology, human 'operators' are still required to monitor the driving environment and regain control when
the autonomous systems are unable to handle the situation. When you have a convoy of several vehicles driving
autonomously and one halts due to an obstacle the autonomous system cannot handle, you have a situation where the
convoy becomes vulnerable. The bridging concept mitigates this risk while still reducing soldier risk."
Partially unmanned technology won't be available for highway driving for several more years, but minimally manned is
currently ready for Army adaptation and deployment in urban and highway environments, McKay said.
The study recommends the Army implement the minimally manned concept as a necessary bridging strategy to achieve
the partially unmanned capability. The Army also should develop clear and practical technical requirements to reduce key
development risks, such as from cyberattack. Pressure to leverage automated trucks to reduce the number of soldiers at
risk may build before the Army has worked out all the problems with these systems so the Army will need to prepare
accurate assessments of system readiness and the risks associated with implementation before the Army is ready.
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Other authors of the study, "Automating Army Convoys: Technical and Tactical Risks and Opportunities," are Matthew E.
Boyer, Nahom M. Beyene, Michael Lerario, Matthew W. Lewis, Karlyn Stanley, Randall Steeb, Bradley Wilson and Katheryn
Giglio.

2. Research for the study was conducted within RAND Arroyo Center's Forces and Logistics program. RAND Arroyo Center,
part of the RAND Corporation, is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the U.S. Army.
The RAND Corporation is a nonpro t institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and
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