Autonomous systems

ystems that can change their behavior in response to unanticipated events during operation are called “autonomous.” The capability of such systems and their domains of application have expanded significantly in recent years, with high-profile successes in both civilian and military applications. These successes have also been accompanied by highprofile failures that compellingly illustrate the real technical difficulties associated with seemingly natural behavior specification for truly autonomous systems. The rewards are great for advancing this technology, however. Autonomous systems technology is truly transformational, with potential benefits in both cost and risk reduction. The technology also holds the potential for enabling entirely new capabilities in environments where direct human control is not physically possible. note also that autonomy development is a discipline that cuts broadly across traditional engineering domains and system life-cycle phases, a true systems engineering discipline. For all of these reasons, ApL has identified autonomous systems technology as an important element of its science and technology vision and a critical area for future development.