Building Trust in Defense Technology
Trust in equipment is not a luxury on the battlefield. It’s a prerequisite. As a former Ground Force Commander in the U.S. Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment, I’ve experienced this firsthand. Every mission demanded complete confidence in our gear, from our radios and weapons to the vehicles and sensors we employed. If we didn’t trust it, we didn’t bring it on target.
This principle also applies directly to autonomous systems. No matter how advanced they are, if soldiers and marines don’t trust them to perform reliably when they’re needed the most, they won’t use them. Therefore, building trust in technology—a top priority for us at Overland AI—is more than just marketing or hype. Rather, it’s about performance, predictability, and proving value in the harshest conditions.
Defining Trust
At its core, trust in defense technology means confidence that the system performs as expected without introducing unnecessary risk. Put simply, it does what you expect and doesn’t create new risks.
To achieve this level of trust for autonomous ground systems or any complex system, we must:
- Clearly understand and define the boundaries of our system: where it will and will not work.
- Communicate those boundaries effectively, ensuring end users know what to expect.
- Deliver consistently reliable and secure performance, even under extreme conditions.
- Provide systems that “just work” and integrate seamlessly into mission operations.
How Overland AI Builds Trust
At Overland AI, we build trust that is both engineered and rigorously earned. Our approach covers ground both internal and external.
Internally, our approach is rooted in rigorous safety engineering and validation.
- We have a dedicated core safety team ensuring compliance with MIL-STD-882E, the Joint Software Systems Safety Engineering Handbook, and other rigorous safety standards.
- We integrate Safety-by-Design principles modeled after on-road autonomous driving safety frameworks, such as UL4600.
- We emphasize extensive validation through real-world testing in environments as harsh and complex as actual combat operations.
This rigorous methodology enables clear, credible risk assessments. By understanding the boundaries of our system and communicating with specificity, we do not promise perfection. Rather, we provide certainty: “Deploy this robotic fighting vehicle within these parameters, maintain the recommended mitigations, and your mission will be accomplished safely.”
Externally, we build trust through real-world demonstration and direct engagement with soldiers and marines:
- We deploy our systems in real-world conditions, receive direct soldier feedback, and rapidly iterate towards mission scenarios.
- We strive to communicate clearly and honestly about system capabilities and limitations. Over-promising destroys trust instantly.
- We develop and execute comprehensive training that ensures soldiers are confident operating and troubleshooting our systems. This provides seamless integration into their workflows.
By building from the ground up from user feedback and refinement, we ensure our systems are intuitive, reliable, and a powerful tool for tactical operators.
The Off-Road Ahead
At Overland AI, our goal is to make our autonomous ground systems as trusted as the radios, rifles, and vehicles that soldiers rely on every day. Trust is a tactical necessity earned through consistent reliability, transparent communication, and real-world performance.
If we build systems that consistently do what they promise, even in the harshest environments, and integrate seamlessly into mission workflows, we build trust. And when soldiers trust our systems, they will use them on target, when it matters.
