Army still determining best Use for driverless vehicles.

• Author: Versprille, Allyson

* The Army's effort to introduce unmanned vehicles into its inventory has slowed as the service's budget tightens and questions remain on how the technology will be used.

During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, when insurgents were attacking supply convoys, the Army made a push to develop driverless trucks. However, the technology never reached the battlefield.

Bryan McVeigh, force projection project manager, said it is vital that the benefits are fully understood before the Army commits its shrinking resources to autonomous technology.

"We haven't proved that the juice is worth the squeeze yet," he said in an interview with National Defense. "We have to demonstrate that the technology is mature enough before the leadership will allow us to commit ... resources."

The current budget environment has put a strain on the development of cutting-edge technologies, said Heidi Shyu, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics, and technology during an acquisition forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Funding for the Army's research, development and acquisition (RDA) account has been hardest hit by budget cuts, she said. "Since 2011, [the] Army RDA account has decreased twice as fast as the Army's top line."

That account finances experimentation and procurement of new technologies such as unmanned systems.

The role for unmanned ground vehicles needs to be better defined so that the technology can more effectively fit within the operating concepts of its units, she said.

The Army needs to look at more specific uses for unmanned systems, said Shyu. "What we need to do is scope to specific mission space [where] we can literally use an unmanned vehicle."

She pointed to recent testing of autonomous shuttles on Army bases as one example.

Applied Robotics for Installations and Base Operations, a SmartAmerica Challenge team sponsored by the Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), has completed several successful pilot tests for autonomous vehicles on military bases. They presented their findings at the June 2014 SmartAmerica Challenge Summit in Washington, D.C., a demonstration showcasing technologies of 24 teams formed by over 100 companies, government agencies and academic institutions. The challenge commenced in 2013 as part of a White House presidential innovation fellow project.

One of the main reasons the uptake of fully autonomous ground vehicles has not progressed at the same pace as unmanned aerial systems is that the applications and requirements have not been fully spelled out, said service officials.

"It's ... a leading-edge technology, so how it fits inside...