Autonomous vehicle xRift: SteerAI shows driverless off-road platform at UMEX

Last week, SteerAI presented its autonomous vehicle xRift at the Unmanned Systems Exhibition and Conference (UMEX), supported by the UAE Smart and Autonomous Systems Council (SASC). The autonomous technology company is part of the ecosystem of the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC) of the United Arab Emirates. According to SteerAI, xRift establishes a new class of driverless off-road vehicles and was developed for numerous missions in the Gulf region.

Off-road vehicles are usually designed for only a limited number of specific missions. With xRift, by contrast, SteerAI says it had a wide range of industrial and military scenarios in mind that demand precision, adaptability and full autonomy. Where the passenger cabin would normally be, there is a flat payload platform. It accommodates various payloads of up to 500 kilograms – for example intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) modules, weapon systems or supplies to be transported through unmapped, difficult terrain.

xRift represents a new generation of high-performance autonomous off-road solutions that are reliable, scalable and precisely tailored to users’ operational requirements. Its versatility and robustness make it stand out. The same platform can take on a wide variety of missions – from supply runs and field operations to surveillance – entirely without human control. The system is designed for endurance and reliability in the most extreme conditions.— Michael Sonderby, acting CEO of SteerAI

Autonomous vehicle with 225 hp and a 47-litre tank

Empty, xRift weighs 1,350 kilograms, with a length of 4.2 metres, a width of 1.88 metres and a height of 1.4 metres. The payload area sits in the middle of the vehicle, measures 1.1 by 1.3 metres (length by width) and carries an additional 500 kilograms of payload. The engine delivers up to 225 hp; without crew, the vehicle reaches a maximum of 50 km/h. The tank holds 47 litres of fuel.

xRift is driven by CoreX, SteerAI’s autonomous driving system. It consists of a modular hardware kit and a powerful AI-based software stack. Algorithms for navigation, perception, localisation and decision-making are intended to enable precise and reliable operation even in demanding off-road conditions, including desert and rocky terrain. Because CoreX is not tied to a specific vehicle, it can be installed in different vehicle fleets.

xRift fills a critical market gap for flexible, deployment-ready autonomy developed specifically for the region. The system shows how local innovation can meet the operational realities of the defence and logistics sectors – with robust, immediately deployable autonomy, both regionally and internationally.— Reda Nidhakou, CEO of VentureOne, SteerAI’s parent company

Series vehicles by the end of the year

The core technology of xRift was developed by experts at the Technology Innovation Institute (TII) in Abu Dhabi. Last year, SteerAI’s technology team, together with TII and industrial partners, took over its development and scaling. The first series vehicles are to be operational as early as the end of the year.