Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles has taken over full responsibility for the InterRoC VII autonomous convoy research project on behalf of Germany’s Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw). The handover came just before Rheinmetall’s InterRoC team won first place in the “Convoy Scenarios” category at the 2026 European Land Robot Trial (ELROB), held at the Thun military training area in Switzerland and widely regarded as Europe’s top demonstration event for unmanned ground systems. According to Rheinmetall, the project centers on secure, cross-manufacturer cooperation between different vehicle platforms operating together under real military conditions. InterRoC VII is the latest phase of Rheinmetall’s ongoing Interoperable Robotic Convoy research series for the Bundeswehr.
Highlights
- Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles has taken over full responsibility for the InterRoC VII research project on behalf of BAAINBw, Germany’s federal defense procurement office.
- The handover came shortly before Rheinmetall’s InterRoC team won first place in the “Convoy Scenarios” category at ELROB 2026 in Thun, Switzerland.
- The project runs on vehicles from Rheinmetall’s HX military logistics family, fitted with the company’s PATH sensor kit and a fully integrated drive-by-wire kit.
- A central technical goal is reliable autonomous operation in GNSS-denied environments, where satellite navigation is unavailable or jammed.
Further Development of Interoperable Convoys
InterRoC VII extends Rheinmetall’s Interoperable Robotic Convoy research series, which aims to advance automated convoy control and test formations in which different vehicle platforms operate safely and autonomously together. The project’s stated focus areas include automation, perception, and decision-making functions, along with route planning for heterogeneous vehicle formations — work intended to support reliable convoy management under demanding military conditions.
The HX Family as the Technical Foundation
Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles is building InterRoC VII on vehicles from its HX family of military logistics trucks. These vehicles carry Rheinmetall’s modular PATH sensor kit alongside a drive-by-wire kit fully integrated into the vehicle architecture. The company describes the setup as an open system architecture that allows continuous integration of additional sensors, AI-based software functions, and mission-specific algorithms, creating what it calls a scalable autonomy platform adaptable to future requirements.
Operating Without Satellite Navigation
A key technical focus of InterRoC VII is safe operation in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-denied environments. Rheinmetall states that even when satellite-based navigation fails or is interrupted, the vehicles are designed to map their surroundings, determine position, and carry out convoy operations autonomously — a capability the company says matters most in electronically contested settings.
ELROB 2026 Demonstration
The capabilities Rheinmetall showcased at ELROB 2026 are being folded directly into the InterRoC VII research project. The Thun event gave the company an opportunity to demonstrate autonomous convoy management, sensor fusion, and decision-making algorithms under realistic conditions, working alongside international armed forces, research institutions, and industry partners. Rheinmetall says the findings from that testing will feed into the next stages of the research project.
A Role in Military Logistics Digitization
Rheinmetall positions InterRoC VII as reinforcing its work in autonomous military logistics systems. According to the company, automating logistics transport tasks can increase the efficiency and sustainability of military supply chains while reducing risk to personnel in the field — part of what Rheinmetall describes as a broader contribution to digitizing military mobility for the Bundeswehr.
The move follows other recent ground-vehicle autonomy work tied to the Rheinmetall name, including American Rheinmetall’s partnership with Harbinger to develop robotic and uncrewed ground vehicles for U.S. defense programs. It also lands amid a broader defense-industry push into autonomous convoy and logistics platforms, following moves such as Kodiak AI’s autonomous military vehicle pact with General Dynamics Land Systems.
AI Partnership With Driveblocks
Driveblocks GmbH, a software and AI specialist in object classification and environmental awareness, is set to play a role in expanding InterRoC VII’s capabilities. The company builds modular autonomy and perception systems that combine camera and LiDAR sensor fusion with AI-based models, aiming for real-time mapping of complex 3D environments — including object classification, open-space and terrain recognition, and safety-critical decision support. Driveblocks designs this technology for challenging off-road conditions such as unstructured terrain, vegetation, dust, snow, and changing visibility, and the company already supplies it to the defense, construction, and agriculture sectors.
Sign up for our weekly emails to stay up to date on the latest news!
