Carnegie Robotics today won a downselect for the Autonomous Transport Vehicle System as the program gears up to issue its first unit by March 2028, a new announcement says.

The downselect kicks off phase three under the ATV-S middle tier of acquisition rapid prototyping effort, which began in 2023. Carnegie Robotics offered the best system under capability, cost and timeline requirements, reads a post from capability portfolio executive mission autonomy.

The ATV-S competition will yield a suite of sensors to adapt Army tactical wheeled vehicles for autonomous driving. The MTA-RP costs a total of $93 million and is fully funded under the future years defense program, fiscal year 2027 budget materials show.

The Army had originally handed three companies -- Robotics Research Autonomous Industries, Neya Systems and Carnegie Robotics -- other transaction authority agreements that required four prototypes from each vendor.

The prototyping effort is embedded in the Army’s family of heavy tactical vehicles (FHTV) program element within a leader follower funding line. The service wants $22 million for that line in FY-27, which will in part pay for phase three efforts, developmental testing and software development, the budget books say.

Service leaders last year lamented delays holding up the Army’s source selection for the ATV-S stemming from a continuing resolution. The ATV-S is geared toward the Palletized Load System A2, a heavy tactical truck that will be built with a “digital backbone” for the autonomy system to integrate with, Kyle Bruner, then project manager of force protection, said at the time.

The first unit issued is planned for the second quarter of FY-27; from there, the Army will evaluate the system and gain feedback in the hopes of a follow-on production acquisition pathway approval, according to the budget books.