A General Motors pickup has never hauled something like this. GM Defense is collaborating with military contractor Black Sage Technologies to integrate a drone defense system into the Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV) that GM Defense recently began supplying to the US Army. The ISV is based on the last-generation Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 midsize pickup and manufactured in Concord, N.C., using frames supplied by NASCAR's Hendrick Motorsports. The midsize truck was engineered for high-speed off-road driving and designed to fit inside a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, slung from a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, or air-dropped from a cargo plane by parachute for quick deployment into the field. The vehicle can be outfitted to fit nine troops, but there are several configurations that mix passenger, cargo and arms carrying capabilities.

General Motors secured its pivot to a high-tech future Wednesday by announcing plans to convert more assembly plants in North America to make electric vehicles by the end of the decade and to double company revenues by that time as it unveils more software and new EVs. GM leaders are expected to reveal new technology, such as an advancement to the automaker's hands-free driving system, as well as more EV products, including a new Chevrolet SUV EV priced at $30,000, during its annual Investor Day presentation, starting at 1 p.m. ET. "Our early investments in these growth trends have transformed GM from automaker to platform innovator, with customers at the center," said CEO Mary Barra. "GM will use its hardware and software platforms to innovate and improve their daily experience, leading everybody on the journey to an all-electric future." Barra emphasized that no hourly workers will lose their jobs in the transition to electric and GM continues to hire salaried employees who have a background in technology and digital software. "Late last year we hired 3,000 employees and this year alone we've hired 8,000 salaried workers especially in the technology, digital and the software space," Barra said.

Since 2006, improvised explosive devices have killed more than 1,000 U.S. troops in Iraq as small groups of U.S. soldiers routinely travel in convoys on bomb-ridden roads, according to Congressional Research Service data. But General Motors is developing commercial vehicle technology that could dramatically lower the casualty count from IEDs. In fact, GM is gambling that it has a lot of technology that the military will want to buy. For example, "GM has demonstrated leader-follower capability," GM Defense President David Albritton told the Free Press. Leader-follower means a manned vehicle leads a dozen unmanned vehicles using GM's self-driving vehicle technology.