Army Gives Robo Jeeps a Go 81
jamesl writes with an excerpt from Defense Tech, which says the U.S. Army is sending "four [of] Lockheed's Squad Mission Support System (SMSS) robot jeeps to Afghanistan where they'll haul supplies for troops. The trucks are being sent there as part of a test program to see just how useful robot cargo trucks can be. The 11-foot long trucks can carry a half a ton of supplies for up to 125 miles after being delivered to the field in a CH-47 or CH-53 helo."
Re:How expensive are they? (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't know how much one of these costs but if it saves two soldiers it can have a huge ROI.
Only if that means they have a smaller army instead of giving that soldier some other task to perform.
In the short term the drivers would do other work. In the long term the army would adjust its recruitment around the ability to use more automation.