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The Shawn Ryan Show · 6 min · Sep 3, 2026

Ground robots will augment human formations before replacing them

BBByron Boots · Co-founder & CEO, Overland AI

Byron Boots contrasts claims that uncrewed vehicles could replace most infantry with his view that U.S. units will first use them alongside people.

In this episode

Full analysis
  1. 50:15DARPA breakthroughs need a company to reach warfighters8 min
  2. 1:38:24Autonomy keeps vehicles moving when communications fail4 min
  3. 1:46:10Autonomous breaching can keep dozens of troops out of danger3 min
  4. 58:39Overland built vehicles when software alone could not reach troops6 min
  5. 1:35:11Field exercises expanded the vehicles beyond resupply3 min
  6. 32:08Autonomy needs training data from varied terrain4 min
  7. 1:27:38Ground robots will augment human formations before replacing them6 min
  8. 2:05:01Ukraine adopts battlefield technology faster because the stakes are existential3 min
“So these are machines that can integrate with human formations. You should think about them as giving humans more capability on the battlefield.”
BBByron Bootsat 1:28:32 · The Shawn Ryan Show
1:28:32

Takeaways

  1. Ukrainian commanders have discussed replacing up to 80% of infantry.
  2. Boots expects U.S. units to use vehicles alongside human formations.
  3. Machines can take risks but are less adaptable than people.

About this segment

Byron Boots contrasts claims that uncrewed vehicles could replace most infantry with his view that U.S. units will first use them alongside people. Machines can take risks, but remain less adaptable than humans.

BB

Byron Boots

Byron Boots is cofounder and CEO of Overland AI; professor at the University of Washington.

From “Byron Boots - 5 People Could Control an Army of 500 Autonomous Vehicles | SRS #336”, Sep 3, 2026. Watch the full episode

Answers “Which jobs will AI replace, and which are safe?” See all 132 answers

Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

  1. 1:27:42

    Do you see these integrating with human forces that are, you know, do you see these as a forward observations platform for maybe, you know, a slew of tanks or MRAD? or whatever we're using and then kind of pushing that information back to a larger force or is it going all autonomous? I think the so you know there's a number of statistics out there which are pretty interesting so you've got like Ukrainian ground commanders basically saying that they're going to replace something like 80 percent of infantry with uncrewed ground vehicles in the near term.

  2. 1:28:30

    And, you know, those statistics are interesting. I think the reality will be a little bit more subtle. So these are machines that can integrate with human formations. You should think about them as giving humans more capability on the battlefield. So I think the way that they'll actually work with the U.S. military is that we'll have formations with humans in them. They will be pushing these vehicles out in front, as you suggested, in order to be able to get a better understanding of the terrain that they're going to be moving into.

  3. 1:29:07

    You can use them for all sorts of things, right? So it's not just sensing what's out there. You can use them to create, like, diversions, right? Like, you can use them, you know, to, you can use them, you know, for strike capability. you can use them to create that kind of counter-UAS bubble to protect humans. I think about them as, you know, something that will be like a force multiplier. I mean, you're saying that Ukrainian military is saying that it will replace up to 80% of infantry, 80% of the infantry.

  4. 1:29:47

    Yeah. And you're saying the U.S. is saying well maybe not the u.s but you see a subtle integration why would we do a subtle integration i mean i know on one hand i'm going to piss the warfighter out because i love fighting wars on the other hand i'm thinking about my toddlers at home you know with all the wars that were were were involved in and re-involved in and i don't want my i don't want my kids going over there having to do it i get you know and so why do you see a subtle integration why wouldn't we go full scale and say hey you know like we we don't need private joe driving this m you know driving this mrap into hostile territory why like that it that's a that's a i don't want to say a wasted life but it could be it would be a wasted life if he got killed when we have the capability

  5. 1:30:40

    of going full autonomous right now i think we'll eventually get there um so one of the value propositions for like ground autonomy is that you're really focused on the what just one of the hardest domains right in the military right so just kind of stepping back um there are a lot of folks who are focused on on air power or naval power or missiles but at the end of the day wars are ultimately one in the ground you know that's where people live right we don't live in the sea We don't live in the air, we live on the ground, and that's, you know, where we have to fight.

  6. 1:31:18

    And, you know, I think when you look at the U.S. and, you know, our casualty rates, something like more than 80% of combat-related casualties since World War II are infantry. So, of course, you want to, like, you know, I think, like, focusing on the ground makes a lot of sense because we want to bring technology to the warfighter that will save those lives, right? And so, yes, we want to take humans out of harm's way.

  7. 1:31:53

    And I think, you know, in Ukraine, we're seeing technology, you know, increasingly being... ...pushed out in front of the warfighter. And I think they're very optimistic about how they want to use them. And ultimately, we do want to do that, right? We want to pull... We want to essentially reduce risk on the battlefield, right? Pull warfighters away from these points of contact, have more people who are, you know, maybe operating teams of robots from, you know, that are far away from a location where they could get hit.

  8. 1:32:26

    But in the meantime, I think that the way they're going to be integrated is in a way that helps warfighters on the ground to stay safer, to potentially give them more options, more tools without totally pulling them out. So, you know, to your point, like, yes, like we want to ensure that, you know, we ultimately want to pull, you know, as many people out of harm's way as possible. But, you know, these are still machines that aren't, you know, quite as creative and adaptable as humans.

  9. 1:33:02

    And so I think what we're really trying to do is find the places where we can maximize the ability for them to be able to take risk while also allowing our humans to do what they do best and do maybe more specialized roles on the battlefield. So I think it'll be a process.