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Earlier this year, senior U.S. Army leaders visited Applied Intuition’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., carrying with them a challenge: Bring our commercial technologies to a military vehicle fast. We got to work.
Ten days later, we delivered a fully autonomous Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV) paired with a Humvee mobile command post.
“This work is proof of what’s possible when the Department of Defense taps into commercial speed and culture,” said Peter Ludwig, Co-Founder and CTO of Applied Intuition. “The Army is pushing to get modern technology in the hands of its soldiers faster, and we’re proud to be part of that shift.”
As Secretary Driscoll, appearing on Bloomberg TV’s Wall Street Week, said, “These are the types of things that we have to be doing as an Army.”
From Bare-Bones To Mission-Capable
Retrofitting the ISV provided a novel challenge for the Applied Intuition team. The vehicle was essentially a bare-bones structure made of welded pipes—no windshield, no body panels, no roof—making it difficult to mount sensors and protect various compute units from the elements.
To overcome this, the team developed protective hardware solutions that ensured system reliability in extreme environments. In parallel, the team installed a pedal-pushing robot to physically turn the wheel and press the throttle and brake pedals. Once the hardware was ready, we deployed our vehicle intelligence software to the ISV.
Applied Intuition’s off-road autonomy solution and Vehicle OS products are designed for adaptability and modular deployment. These systems were used together to enable both onboard and remote control capabilities. A Humvee was configured as a mobile control center, equipped with our vehicle software and a user interface for mission planning and live system feedback. From this mobile hub, operators could define autonomous routes, monitor progress in real time, and receive hazard alerts.
Engineering in the Dirt
Following our 10-day sprint, the autonomous ISV and Humvee mobile command post were shipped to the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Johnson, Louisiana, for a live-training exercise with soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). The Applied Intuition team was embedded in the field with the soldiers to provide real-time fixes to any issues.
Over the course of two weeks, our team ran multiple missions with the ISV, ranging from simple joyrides to critical supply missions to scouting an area before the squad approached. Based on feedback from the soldiers, the Applied Intuition team iterated on the vehicle software and deployed live updates throughout the exercise. The team walked away with fresh perspectives from observing users, who in turn saw how powerful the technology could be in the battlefield.
Where Dual-Use Meets DOD
Applied Intuition’s work with the Army in turning an ISV fully autonomous in 10 days proves what is possible when the Department of Defense works shoulder-to-shoulder with dual-use companies.
Dual-use companies can move faster, build smarter, and deliver real capabilities that make a difference for our warfighters. When defense meets Silicon Valley execution, our soldiers get better tools, faster. And this is just the beginning: As we move forward and keep proving what’s possible, Applied Intuition is proud to help lay the foundation for a more agile, more resilient, and more tech-forward military.
Interested in learning how we can bring vehicle intelligence to your mission? Contact us to find out more.
