DHS Plans Experiment Running ‘Reconnaissance’ Drones Along the US-Canada Border
Key takeaways
- Vehicle autonomy, the document notes, is secondary to its primary aim: demonstrating “resilient, persistent 5G communications.”
- DHS and DRDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
- Scheduled for November, the tests would be the first joint US-Canada cross-border technology experiment along their shared border in nearly a decade.
Why this matters: a development in AI with implications for how people work, create, and decide.
Photograph: David Ryder/Bloomberg/Getty Images Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story The US Department of Homeland Security, in collaboration with the Defense Research and Development Canada, is looking to send autonomous drones and vehicles along the US-Canada border this fall, testing which products can stream surveillance video and sensor data between the two countries using commercial 5G networks.
A new DHS call for participants frames the experiment, known as ACE-CASPER, as a multiday exercise “simulating a national emergency response scenario,” with drones and ground vehicles relaying live feeds to a bi-national command-and-control center as they cross the border. Vehicle autonomy, the document notes, is secondary to its primary aim: demonstrating “resilient, persistent 5G communications.”
DHS and DRDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.