DARPA Shows Future US Combat Vehicles With Shape-Shifting Wheels

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has recently demonstrated new advancements for U.S. combat vehicles, including "shape-shifting" wheels, autonomous driving, and virtual windows, Newsweek reported.

The advancements are part of an ongoing program, Ground X-Vehicle Technologies (GXV-T), the report said. A team at Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Engineering Center is developing the "shape-shifting" wheels, which transform from a round wheel to a triangular track in seconds while the vehicle is moving, the report said.

The technology aims to improve the vehicles without adding more armor, program manager Maj. Amber Walker said in a DARPA video released Friday.

A second Carnegie-Mellon design is Off-Road Crew Augmentation, which can provide real-time predictions for safe travel routes as well as an autonomous driving vehicle that can drive itself off-road and around obstacles, the report said.

Another design, from Honeywell International, is a windowless cockpit for an all-terrain vehicle that would use 3-D goggles to display virtual views from outside the ATV, the report said.

The technologies are still in testing, and DARPA has not presented a date when they would be released, Newsweek’s report said.

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