TECH FOCUS: COMMERCIAL AND OFF-ROAD VEHICLES Autonomous off-roading for natural disaster relief Clemson University students debut autonomous off-road vehicle with far-reaching impact. Each year, natural disasters cause significant damage and disruption to the nation's transportation infrastructure, destroying delivery routes to affected populations and complicating efforts to assess the situation. In 2022 alone, natural disasters caused an estimated $165.1 billion in damages in the United States, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. To expedite the delivery of supplies and to gather real-time data for emergency responders, students at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CUICAR) in Greenville, S.C., developed an off-road reconnaissance and relief vehicle that can navigate all on its own. UPDATE July 2024 21 Clemson Universityhttps://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2024/april/study-links-federally-declared-weather-disasters-to-reductions-in-u-s-pork-processing https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2024/april/study-links-federally-declared-weather-disasters-to-reductions-in-u-s-pork-processing https://cuicar.com/ https://cuicar.com/