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DIU, DAWG, Navy Launch $100 Million Challenge For Autonomous System Control

By Cal Biesecker

Wednesday, January 14th, 2026

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DIU, DAWG, Navy Launch $100 Million Challenge For Autonomous System Control

AeroVironment's Wildcat Group 3 tailsit VTOL unmanned aircraft system. Photo: AeroVironment

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), the relatively new Defense Autonomous Working Group (DAWG) and the Navy this week launched a $100 million prize challenge to prototype “market-ready solutions” that can provide easy command and control for autonomous vehicles. The Autonomous Vehicle Orchestrator prize challenge seeks scalable vehicle agnostic capabilities “that can translate a battlefield commander’s intent from voice, text, and haptic input into machine execution,” DIU said on Monday evening. Michael Dodd, acting deputy director of DIU and assistant secretary…

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