The DARPA agency plans to apply the concept of crowdsourcing, that is, harnessing collective intelligence, for development. The approach implies the participation in the project of a wide range of specialists who usually do not work with military orders: representatives of universities, small businesses, and even private individuals ready to offer their ideas regarding the design of a vehicle for combat missions, transporting units, or evacuating the wounded.
To test this concept, DARPA organized a competition for the best design of an armored vehicle, the DARPA XC2V (experimental combat support vehicle). Over 150 different ideas participated in the competition.
The victory was won by Local Motors with the XC2V FLYPMode model. This four-seat SUV with buggy off-road capability and a Corvette engine was created in 14 weeks. The vehicle received high praise and was demonstrated to US President Barack Obama. During a speech at the National Robotics Engineering Center, the head of state called the XC2V an example of effective cooperation between the army and industry.
DARPA, which has planned to invest $1 billion in innovative defense systems over the next five years, believes that this competition demonstrated that crowdsourcing is quite applicable for developing complex military platforms.
