Driverless resupply vehicle pairs 500-mile range with drone-killing shotgun

Moving military supplies through areas under fire puts drivers directly in danger. Forterra and Hypercraft are showcasing a driverless off-road vehicle designed for those missions at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual meeting in Washington. The platform combines Hypercraft’s Razorback unmanned ground vehicle with Forterra’s AutoDrive self-driving system. It also carries a counter-drone turret from 9 Mothers, bringing autonomous resupply and drone defense onto the same vehicle. The companies describe contested logistics as a primary mission, although neither has announced a military customer, contract, or price for the combination. Forterra, previously known as Robotic Research, develops autonomy technology rather than manufacturing vehicles. AutoDrive combines software, sensors, and computers to enable existing vehicles to operate without a driver. A 4,000-pound payload without a driver Razorback is the first complete vehicle developed by Hypercraft, based in Provo, Utah. The company initially built electric powertrains for commercial vehicles before expanding into defense and unveiling Razorback earlier this year. Measuring more than 13 feet (4 meters) long, the vehicle can carry up to 4,000 pounds (1,814 kg), according to Hypercraft. The company reports a driving range of about 500 miles (800 km) and the ability to supply up to 38 kilowatts of electricity to external equipment. Its design accommodates third-party sensors, radios, weapons, and mission payloads. Hypercraft has already displayed Razorback with counter-drone radar from Fortem Technologies. “We’re going after contested logistics and other missions where a driver is the most exposed person on the battlefield,” Forterra Chief Growth Officer Scott Sanders told Tectonic. “Razorback and AutoDrive combine to deliver a platform that can go further, over more complicated terrain, and power platforms in ways that traditional UGVs cannot,” he added. Autonomy built into the platform Sanders said Razorback was designed for autonomy from the outset, making integration straightforward. He contrasted that approach with unmanned ground vehicles derived from crewed trucks fitted with self-driving equipment after production. According to Forterra, the system has been integrated into more than 50 vehicle types, used on over 1,100 missions, and placed under contract for more than 258 systems. Applications include Polaris Ranger 1500 utility vehicles used in Ukraine and Ford F-250 pickups for the U.S. Army. AutoDrive also equips Oshkosh Joint Light Tactical Vehicles used in the U.S. Marine Corps’ ROGUE-Fires anti-ship missile launcher. A shotgun turret for small drones The Razorback displayed at AUSA carries Edda, a roughly 50-pound (23 kg) counter-drone turret developed by Austin, Texas-based 9 Mothers. Edda detects the sound of small drone rotors, uses cameras to track targets and fires a shotgun. It is designed to engage drones approximately 7 inches (18 cm) across at distances between 33 and 328 feet (10–100 meters). In August, the U.S. Army tested the same turret on a self-driving Ford F-250 equipped with Forterra technology during a live-fire exercise at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Forterra said its partnerships prioritize operational needs and production scalability, with autonomy requiring coordination across the vehicle, sensors, computers, communications, and operator. The Razorback pairing brings those elements together for contested resupply missions. Get the latest in engineering, tech, space & science - delivered daily to your inbox.Atharva is a full-time content writer with a post-graduate degree in media & amp; entertainment and a graduate degree in electronics & telecommunications. He has written in the sports and technology domains respectively. In his leisure time, Atharva loves learning about digital marketing and watching soccer matches. His main goal behind joining Interesting Engineering is to learn more about how the recent technological advancements are helping human beings on both societal and individual levels in their daily lives.