If you plan on pulling a Kerouac this summer in favor of the quintessential, American road trip, don’t be surprised if you see a fleet of self-driving Army trucks ripping down I-69.

(Honk if you love the USA!)

The Army plans to test a convoy of autonomous trucks to explore if (and how) self-driving vehicles can ease drivers’ workloads during wartime.

While the military’s initial tests have involved ten vehicles (each one decked out in cameras, radar, and onboard computers), this summer, the Army plans to test vehicle-to-infrastructure radio links for four vehicles along a stretch of Michigan’s Interstate 69.

The trucks will transmit their speed and location to roadside transponders ($5,000 a pop), each with a range of 300 meters. In turn, the transponders will transmit information, such as speed limits, back to the trucks in real-time.

“One vehicle drives and a number of vehicles can follow,” Paul Rogers, director of the Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center (TARDEC), told Automotive News. “You won’t need as many drivers. You see commercial truck operators trying similar platooning projects at highway speeds.”

Should testing of the autonomous convoys be successful, the Army will retrofit its vehicles with the necessary sensors and equipment.

I can’t help but wonder if these developments, which occupy an important space for the United States military, will do anything to ease the public’s concerns over self-driving vehicles (gasp!), sharing the public tarmac.