January 13, 2026 (Washington, D.C) - Autonomous systems are maturing into distributed, multi-domain forces across the Department of War. As this arsenal grows, so does the need for an operationally viable Autonomous Vehicle Orchestrator – a layer of technology that can translate a battlefield commander’s intent from voice, text, and haptic input into machine execution.
To support this critical DoW need, the Defense Innovation Unit, the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG), and the United States Navy are launching a $100,000,000 prize challenge to prototype market-ready solutions to establish a robust, scalable and vehicle-agnostic capability for understanding, tasking and coordinating autonomous systems at the fleet level.
“The Department’s fleet of autonomous vehicles is the future of warfighting - but they are nothing without the intelligence and experience of the operator. This Prize Challenge will deliver a human-machine interaction layer that will directly impact the lethality and effectiveness of these systems,” said Hon. Michael Dodd, Acting Deputy Director of DIU and Assistant Secretary of War for Critical Technologies.
The challenge will include iterative sprints, tackling increasingly complex portions of the problem.
“We want orchestrator technologies that allow humans to work the way they already command – through plain language that expresses desired effects, constraints, timing, and priorities – not by clicking through menus or programming behaviors,” said LtGen Frank Donovan, Director of the DAWG. “We must ensure the human - the ethical decision maker - always maintains a clear understanding of what the system is doing and why. As we continue down this path, we want to integrate effects at increased speed and tempo, at a time and place of our choosing, to overwhelm our adversaries.”
Vendors will only be eligible for selection prior to the first sprint, and, upon successful completion of the previous sprint, can progress to the next sprint. Vendors who are not able to complete the sprint will not move forward.
“This solicitation’s approach is the new standard—we’re moving fast to deliver tangible capabilities to the warfighter. Selected performers will be shoulder‑to‑shoulder with operators, and they will be proving that their capability works in an operational environment,” said Hon. Emil Michael, Acting Director of DIU and Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering. “If a company can deliver, they will receive substantial rewards. If they can’t, we will move on. The ones who show they can perform will move immediately into follow‑on contracts so we can field these capabilities at scale for our fighting force.”
Up to $100,000,000 in awards are available for this effort and the government anticipates multiple awards.
The Challenge will be open through January 25th, 2026.
See here for full details and application instructions here.