Chicago Innovation Hub Gets First Grant - Adaptive Vehicles

The Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation (DMDI) Institute has its first grant. That grant, $10 million, is from the Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA). DARPA develops new technologies for the United States military.

What are they doing with the $10 million? Making vehicles! In fact, the grant is geared directly toward the Adaptive Vehicle Make (AVM) program that DARPA runs. AVM "is a portfolio of programs that address revolutionary approaches to design, verification and manufacturing of complex defense systems and vehicles."

No one knows of course what the military might build into the vehicles, or whether any of the new technology will end up in cars that we all drive. However, this is just another example of the rapidly merging worlds of technology and automotive.