The US Army has selected American technology firm Applied Intuition to advance the Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) program.
As part of the $49-million agreement, the company will deliver a foundational modeling and simulation platform, enabling the RCV program office to test the vehicle’s autonomous software.
The end-to-end autonomy development solution will also reportedly enable the office to meet off-road maneuvering, obstacle avoidance, and vehicle safety requirements.
According to Applied Intuition co-founder Qasar Younis, the modeling and simulation platform will continuously improve autonomy software, enhancing the army’s approach to autonomy stack development.
“We are excited to bring our proven enterprise autonomy development toolchain to the Army’s RCV program,” he said.
The RCV Program
The US Army’s RCV is a state-of-the-art vehicle being developed as part of the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle series.
It consists of light, medium, and heavy variants.
The autonomous vehicles will serve as “escorts” for manned fighting vehicles to deter ambushes and guard mechanized formations.
The RCV light variant will weigh less than 10 tons and can be transported by a rotary-wing aircraft.
The medium variant will weigh up to 20 tons and have increased lethality to defeat light- to medium-armored threats.
The heavy RCV variant will weigh between 20 and 30 tons and have direct fire weapon systems capable of defeating all known enemy armored vehicles.
