XAV (eXperimental Autonomous Vehicle), is a highly maneuverable, light mechanized, four-wheeled
unmanned vehicle
An uncrewed vehicle or unmanned vehicle is a vehicle without a person on board. Uncrewed vehicles can either be under telerobotic control—remote controlled or remote guided vehicles—or they can be autonomously controlled—autonomous vehicl ...
that can be controlled from a remote station and used for field reconnaissance. In 2007 it was under joint development by South Korea's
Agency for Defense Development (ADD) and Ministry of Information and Communication, with a budget of approximately $35 million, and planned to be fielded by 2012.
Two variants of the unit were envisaged, one for battlefield
reconnaissance
In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities.
Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...
missions and another for light anti-personnel
combat
Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...
missions.
Controls
The unit has
GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
inputs, and can be controlled via remote or can move on its own using
artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
.
Possible technology transfers
Choi Chang-gon, the head researcher of the project, also hinted that the amount of research poured into developing and building the XAV might extend into civilian uses, such as
police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
,
fire fighting
Firefighting is the act of extinguishing or preventing the spread of unwanted fires from threatening human lives and destroying property and the environment. A person who engages in firefighting is known as a firefighter.
Firefighters typicall ...
and
construction
Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...
.
External links2006 XAV article from The Korea Times (archived)
Post–Cold War weapons of South Korea
Reconnaissance vehicles
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