Overland AI successfully demonstrated a fully autonomous ground vehicle system integrated with drone capabilities during the U.S. Army’s Project Convergence Capstone 5 (PC-C5), the military’s flagship experimentation event for emerging battlefield technologies.
In partnership with the Sandhills Project and the 20th Engineer Brigade of the XVIII Airborne Corps, Overland AI outfitted General Dynamics Land Systems’ Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport (SMET) vehicle with its OverDrive autonomy software, SPARK hardware, and OverWatch tactical interface. This upgrade replaced the SMET’s manual tethered control system, enabling full autonomous operations in live mission scenarios.
U.S. Army Soldiers from the 27th Engineer Battalion, 20th Engineer Brigade trained directly on Overland’s system during PC-C5, learning to independently operate, troubleshoot, and maintain the fully autonomous platform. By the end of the exercise, Soldiers executed breaching missions, successfully starting up the system, conducting missions, and shutting it down independently.
The demonstration included two payload integrations: a trailer equipped with a mine-clearing UAS designed for breaching lanes, and a Stratin Engineering-developed drone launcher mounted on the SMET to deploy small attritable drones.
“Soldiers independently and successfully operated our ground autonomy for two consecutive weeks during Project Convergence Capstone 5,” said Byron Boots, co-founder and chief executive officer of Overland AI. “Breaching exercises continue to demonstrate the maturity of our capability and the tactical benefit of removing humans from some of the most dangerous missions.”
Overland AI directly supported the Sandhills Project’s objective, such as minefields, wire, and ditches, while enabling distributed operations across a breach. The 20th Engineer Brigade has taken possession of the upgraded SMET vehicle for continued experimentation, with Overland AI providing field support and a software license per contract.
PC-C5 is a cornerstone of the Army’s persistent experimentation campaign and focuses on evaluating next-generation warfighting capabilities, including cross-domain operations in the INDOPACOM theater. The Overland AI ground team onsite included experts across hardware integration, autonomy software, infrastructure, field operations, product, and program management.
Overland AI continues to advance the state of ground autonomy for defense, having previously secured an $18.6 million contract with the U.S. Army and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to develop autonomy software for the Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) program.