The AVERT project: Autonomous Vehicle Emergency Recovery Tool

Terrorism threatens horrific loss of life, extensive disruption to city transport and damage to commercial real estate. Vehicles provide an ideal delivery mechanism because they can be meticulously prepared well in advance of deployment and then brought into the area of operations. Furthermore, a real and present danger comes from the threat of Chemical, Radiological, Biological and Nuclear (CRBN) contamination. Current methods of bomb disruption and neutralisation are hindered in the event that the device is shielded, blocked or for whatever reason cannot be accessed for examination. The Autonomous Vehicle Emergency Recovery Tool (AVERT) project introduces a unique capability to Police and Armed Services to rapidly deploy, extract and remove blocking vehicles from vulnerable positions such as enclosed infrastructure spaces, tunnels, low bridges as well as under-building and underground car parks. Within the AVERT project, vehicles can be removed from confined spaces with delicate handling, swiftly and in any direction to a safer disposal point to reduce or eliminate collateral damage to infrastructure and personnel. The overall system will be commanded remotely and shall operate autonomously under its own power and sensor awareness, as a critical tool alongside existing technologies, thereby enhancing bomb disposal response speed and safety.