Oct 14, 2026 · 11 min · 9 segments
What if the next vehicle sent into a dangerous battlefield isn't a tank or armored personnel carrier, but a Ford F-250 pickup—with nobody behind the wheel? In this episode of *TechMobility Topics*, I…
Ken ChesterHost
Basically, what this is, it's a Ford F-250 that's been outfitted with autonomous software by a company called Forterra.
What does this mean? Well, as they're trying to evaluate these vehicles in a training exercise, it's really part of a broader effort to determine whether familiar commercial vehicles can perform dangerous battlefield jobs without soldiers.
The more you can buy off the shelf, the lower the cost, the easier the availability, and the quicker that you can get these vehicles should they break down, be damaged, or destroyed.
For many years, our military has counted on very specific equipment built to specifications that they set.
The bad news is that these are very rarely not off-the-shelf products which have to be specifically designed and engineered, which adds money, time, and turnaround.
Particularly if they get something wrong, you may not necessarily get a chance to fix it.
Forterra, the defense technology company supplying the truck's autonomous driving system, says that the vehicles could eventually support missions such as route clearance and breaching, work that can require soldiers to spend hours searching mined roads and positioning explosives.
Anything that get our men and women in the military out of harm's way, I'm all the way for.
And it's actually the part of the Army that'll be testing these is the, uh, 17th Airborne Corps.
Ford's popularity and readily available supply of parts could make the robotic trucks easier to maintain and repair, meaning that all the benefit...
Number one, the Army gets all the benefit of all the modernization that Ford has done to the truck that they don't have to pay special for, meaning it would cost less.
And obviously, being a truck of the military, not the luxurious truck, but the work truck, so you get-- It really becomes quite a value.
But I'm kind of surprised why they wouldn't go a little bit deeper and go all the way for an F-350.
And really what we're talking about is the strength of the frame, what it can carry, what it can do, how much abuse it can take.
Basically, what this is, it's a Ford F-250 that's been outfitted with autonomous software by a company called Forterra.
What does this mean? Well, as they're trying to evaluate these vehicles in a training exercise, it's really part of a broader effort to determine whether familiar commercial vehicles can perform dangerous battlefield jobs without soldiers.
The more you can buy off the shelf, the lower the cost, the easier the availability, and the quicker that you can get these vehicles should they break down, be damaged, or destroyed.
For many years, our military has counted on very specific equipment built to specifications that they set.
The bad news is that these are very rarely not off-the-shelf products which have to be specifically designed and engineered, which adds money, time, and turnaround.
Particularly if they get something wrong, you may not necessarily get a chance to fix it.
Forterra, the defense technology company supplying the truck's autonomous driving system, says that the vehicles could eventually support missions such as route clearance and breaching, work that can require soldiers to spend hours searching mined roads and positioning explosives.
Anything that get our men and women in the military out of harm's way, I'm all the way for.
And it's actually the part of the Army that'll be testing these is the, uh, 17th Airborne Corps.
Ford's popularity and readily available supply of parts could make the robotic trucks easier to maintain and repair, meaning that all the benefit...
Number one, the Army gets all the benefit of all the modernization that Ford has done to the truck that they don't have to pay special for, meaning it would cost less.
And obviously, being a truck of the military, not the luxurious truck, but the work truck, so you get-- It really becomes quite a value.
But I'm kind of surprised why they wouldn't go a little bit deeper and go all the way for an F-350.
And really what we're talking about is the strength of the frame, what it can carry, what it can do, how much abuse it can take.
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