(TNS) — Two Pittsburgh companies are locked in a tight race to build autonomous trucks for the U.S. military.
Neya Systems and Carnegie Robotics have 270 days to build a driverless system that could be deployed in army convoys, making the slow-moving set of vehicles safer by requiring less human soldiers. They will compete against a third company, Robotics Research Autonomous Industries, based in Maryland.
“It is a challenging timeline for the the amount of work we need to get done. But we’re not starting from ground zero,” said Eric Soderberg, program manager for Carnegie Robotics, which has been designing autonomous systems for the military since its inception in 2010.
More than 20 companies applied for the competition contract. That two of the winners are based in Pittsburgh speaks to the city’s continued legacy as a pioneer of autonomous technology.
Neya Systems and Carnegie Robotics helped anchor November’s Robotics Discovery Day at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Their direct competition also raises the stakes for each group.
“It’s like a lot of rivalries,” Mr. Soderberg said. “When it’s a local team, it makes you want to show yourself well.”
The tight timeline is especially challenging because the Army isn’t looking for a one-off demo; it wants a fully deployable solution that could be built into more than 30 trucks, Mr. Soderberg said.
“We’re trying to deliver something that is production representative,” he said.
The Army has been developing driverless convoy systems since 2012, when it gave Lockheed Martin $11 million to retrofit tactical vehicles with low-cost sensors and control systems. It tested similar technology in 2017 on Michigan’s Route 69 and wanted a set of 70 trucks by 2020.
For this competition, half the job is already done: The trucks are Oshkosh’s Palletized Load System, used by the military since 1993 for logistics and freight.
Mr. Soderberg said Carnegie Robotics will focus on getting a working prototype as early as possible so it can start giving it practice miles. The first trucks are set to arrive in the next two weeks.
Neya Systems may have a slight leg up. The startup was founded just a year before Carnegie Robotics, but it has specialized in off-road environments and already has code being used by the Army, division manager Kurt Bruck said.
“It’s a big stepping stone for us,” he said of the contract. “It shows that we’re experts in this field, and we’re ready to take the next step into larger vehicles.”
Off-road environments have “a lot more challenges,” than city streets, he said. But the use case makes the added work worth it.
“We’re very excited to be part of programs that save lives,” Mr. Bruck said. “All of these trucks are currently driven by multiple soldiers. This removes the soldiers. It protects them.”
