Lockheed Martin Shows Off Self-Driving Car Technology
LITTLETON, Colo. (CBS4)- Lockheed Martin celebrated the opening of its brand new facility in Littleton by showcasing the progress it has made with some of its high-tech, autonomous hardware- or self-driving cars.
The Lockheed Martin Autonomous Systems Facility is home to cutting edge autonomy technology. It has applications not only in defense, but in the commercial and industrial marketplaces as well.
As far its advances military technologies are concerned, CBS4 was given a demonstration of the Squad Mission Support System (SMSS), a semi-autonomous design that has already been successfully tested in action.
The goal of the SMSS is to transport heavy backpacks for soldiers, preventing injury and freeing them to focus on other tasks. It also allows for the transport of items soldiers could not normally care such as fuel and extra water. It can be trained to avoid obstacles while going from one specific point to another, or it can be operated with something as simple as an Xbox controller.
"One of the vehicles was attacked with a hand grenade and it rolled down the hill, landed on its wheels and went back to base. So it's very rugged but it also achieved the mission of allowing the soldiers to stand back, going into an unknown, down an unknown street, who knows what might be down there, and doing it safely and reporting it back with the data," said Vice President of Lockheed Missiles and Fire Control Rick Edwards.
The Lockheed Martin Autonomous Systems Facility currently employees more than 50 Coloradans with an anticipated growth of 20 percent in the coming years.
It has plans to continue investing in and advancing autonomy technology both in military and everyday applications.
