The Autonomous Navigation System (ANS) was a combat vehicle

Combat vehicle

A combat vehicle, also known as a ground combat vehicle, is a self-propelled, weaponized military vehicle used for combat operations. Combat vehicles can be wheeled or tracked.- Automation :...

 upgrade used to convert manned vehicles to autonomous unmanned capability or to upgrade already unmanned vehicles to be autonomous.

Design

ANS was an onboard, integrated suite of sensors and technology that enabled autonomous navigation, perception, path-planning and vehicle-following capabilities for unmanned ground vehicle

Unmanned ground vehicle

An unmanned ground vehicle is a military robot used to augment the soldiers capability. This type of robot is generally capable of operating outdoors and over a wide variety of terrain, functioning in place of humans....

s, allowing them to move on the battlefield with minimal human oversight. Some tasks the system already performed in tests included move-on-route, obstacle detection and avoidance and leader/follower capabilities in both day and night conditions. Originally designed by the Army for integration on the Armed Robotic Vehicle

Armed Robotic Vehicle

The XM1219 Armed Robotic Vehicle was an unmanned ground combat vehicle based on the MULE Platform. The ARV-A-L MULE Vehicle would feature integrated anti-tank and anti-personnel and reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition systems remotely operated by network linked soldiers...

-Assault (Light) (ARV-A(L)), the ANS has also been tested on vehicles including Stryker

Stryker

The IAV Stryker is a family of eight-wheeled, 4-wheel-drive , armored fighting vehicles derived from the Canadian LAV III and produced by General Dynamics Land Systems, in use by the United States Army. The vehicle is named for two American servicemen who posthumously received the Medal of Honor:...

s, MULE Engineering Evaluation Units, and Light Medium Tactical Vehicles (LMTV).

History

The Critical Design Review found the ANS to be at a maturity level consistent with moving to the prototype fabrication phase and that its assessments and critical issues presented low risk with 95 percent of its requirements met. Closure of the CDR was expected in late August 2010. Prototype delivery was scheduled for late 2011 and Integrated Qualification Testing would begin in 2012. The Army ended development work on the system and ARV in July 2011 stating that the system “did not warrant continued investment,”.

Source

This article incorporates work from http://www.bctmod.army.mil/news/ANS_CDR.html, which is in the public domain

Public domain

Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...

as it is a work of the United States Military.

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