Developments and Challenges for Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles : Springer : 9783642262708 : 3642262708 : 04 May 2012 : It is widely anticipated that autonomous vehicles will have a transformational impact on military forces and will play a key role in many future force structures. As a result, many tasks have already been identified that unmanned systems could undertake more readily than humans. However, for this to occur, such systems will need to be agile, versatile, persistent, reliable, survivable and lethal. This will require many of the vehicles ?cognitive' or higher order functions to be more fully developed, whereas to date only the ?component' or physical functions have been successfully automated and deployed. The book draws upon a broad range of others' work with a view to providing a product that is greater than the sum of its parts. The discussion is intentionally approached from the perspective of improving understanding rather than providing solutions or drawing firm conc