Video

Video by Douglas Halleaux

[VO/SOT] Army dedicates autonomous leader-follower trucks to fallen Soldiers

DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center

April 9, 2019 | 1:35

SCRIPT FOLLOWS:

Here at Fort Bliss, straddling Texas and New Mexico, the Army Engineers who are working to bring automated driving to the military’s trucking units are taking a knee and holding a special ceremony. As the very first “Automated Leader-Follower” trucks are prepared for Soldiers’ hands, the leaders nurturing the technology want to be sure the inspiration for the technology’s advancement is never forgotten.
Major Andrew Scruggs is the Military Lead for Expedient Leader-Follower, a project within the Army’s newly-formed Army Futures Command. His teammates are hosting a ceremony to dedicate each of the first sixteen autonomous leader-follower vehicles to one of sixteen fallen Motor Vehicle Operator Soldiers who was killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“And so, really, the reason why we’re dedicating these vehicles is because every time we get an engineer, every time we get a government member that’s a part of this team, this is complicated stuff that we’re doing. It’s a very high level of rigor, activities, and sometimes people can get burned out, but when they see that vehicle data plate on that truck that they’re working on, they’re going to be reminded of why they’re doing what they’re doing, and what their efforts could potentially help the army to achieve and what the Soldiers’ families could potentially achieve from this.”
The trucks will carry special data plates on them, describing the service and sacrifice of each of these fallen Soldiers. Next for these trucks is more testing, then the first two sets for Soldier use will go to Fort Sill and Fort Polk later this year.