AUVSI’s ground domain Working Group recently formalized as an Advocacy Committee, approving bylaws and hosting its first leadership elections. Going forward, the Ground Advocacy Committee (GAC) will set AUVSI’s legislative and regulatory priorities in the ground domain.

The GAC is composed of a diverse group of member companies, including those in automated goods movement, ground robotics, ground defense, and more. Members work intimately with leadership in the Department of Defense (DoD), lawmakers in the Legislative Branch, as well as state, local, and tribal officials to help scale Uncrewed Ground Vehicles (UGVs) in a meaningful way.

Meet the Committee’s Inaugural Leadership

Chair Pat Acox – Head of Government Growth, Forterra

• Pat leads Forterra’s Defense-related engagements, both domestically and internationally. Pat’s team develops and delivers meaningful autonomy products to Government partners.

• As a Marine, Pat served as both officer and enlisted, supporting conventional and special operations missions. He continues to serve as a Marine Corps Reservist, has worked on the Joint Staff, in the intelligence community, and defense innovation.

• Pat earned his Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and his Master of Science in Astronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School, and is a distinguished graduate of several military schools.

Vice Chair Jason Brown – General Manager, Government, Applied Intuition Defense

• Jason’s team develops and evolves dual-use autonomous technologies for defense and government customers.

• Jason served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force for 26 years, holding roles including 480th ISR Wing Commander, director at the DoD Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, and founder of the Air Force Artificial Intelligence Accelerator at MIT. 

• He has master's degrees from Georgetown University, Air University, and Marine Corps University, and a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M.

GAC’s 2024 Priorities

As of launch, the GAC has two guiding objectives:

1. Ensure US superiority on the modern battlefield through the advancement of autonomous ground systems for defense applications via appropriations and through direct DoD engagement. 

2. Educate Congressional leadership on the benefits of commercial ground applications across the AV, trucking, and ground robotics sectors. 

GAC members recently participated in the Committee’s first AUVSI Hill Day held since establishment of the Committee. Priorities members advocated for included:

1. Ground autonomy requirements: As technology is changing the way we fight in real time, the GAC is concerned that the Army is not leveraging the commercial industrial base to its full capacity. The Army should develop requirements for ground autonomy for current and future platforms, brief Congress on how to modernize ground platforms with autonomy, and present a timetable on when such integrations would occur.

2. Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV): Congress should appropriate robust funding for the RCV program for the use of “Commercial Autonomy Kits” for real-life testing to rapidly evolve and mature existing software, enable learning and implementation of tactical behaviors, and generate and evaluate data to gain capability faster while de-risking fielding of RCV and future autonomous vehicles.

3. Commercial Ground Domain: The U.S. should establish a cross-agency, all-of-government national strategy for robotics, as other competitor nations have in recent years. Such a strategy should address cybersecurity and data concerns and restrict government procurement to secure platforms.

Get Involved

To learn more about AUVSI's Ground Advocacy Committee and how your organization can join, visit https://www.auvsi.org/ground-advocacy-committee or contact Mike Smitsky, Vice President, Government Affairs.