December 13, 2014: Military truck manufacturers are developing versions of computerized safety systems used in commercial trucks for military use. The military versions will be more rugged and take into account the different operating profile military vehicles use (slower, more off country operation and getting shot at) compared to commercial vehicles. Two features in development are the “Surround View” (vidcams constantly watch all around the vehicle) and a collision warning system.

Military vehicles have already been adding more vidcams to give the vehicle operators (or crews of combat vehicles) constant surveillance of all sides of the vehicle. Surround View completes (with multiple vidcams) and improves on this trend (with better software and user interface). One feature troops have been asking for is a Surround View equipped with motion detector so that the crew could detect someone approaching at night when no one is supposed to be out there. That one would be more costly to operate than challenging to develop and may have to wait.

Commercial collision avoidance systems also use a vidcam, but one connected to a computer system that constantly scans what is in the way and calculates chances of collision. When a collision is imminent an alarm goes off. For the military version there are more alarms (including a vibrating driver’s seat) and a detector system tweaked to detect more types of collisions, especially with stationary items while off road. One obvious development path is a merger of surround view and collision avoidance and security (motion detection and identification) systems into one military specific system.