A control computer for an unmanned vehicle, including: a sensor interface for receiving sensor data from sensors of the vehicle, the sensor data including data values associated with movement of the vehicle; an actuator control interface for sending actuator data to control actuators of the vehicle, the actuators controlling parts of the vehicle associated with controlling movement of the vehicle; and a system management component for executing a state machine having states corresponding to one or more phases of the movement and for determining a transition between current one of the states and another of the states based on at least one condition associated with the transition, at least one condition being determined based on at least one of the sensor data, the actuator data and status of the computer.