GM Defense has unveiled an unmanned ground vehicle based on the Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD, shown at the AUSA 2026 Annual Meeting on October 12. The company plans to have a technology demonstrator ready for Army evaluation by June 2027, with the truck designed for silent logistics runs and casualty evacuation rather than combat.
The reveal came alongside news that the Army's Infantry Squad Vehicle fleet has grown from an initial 649 units to nearly 12,000 vehicles, a near twentyfold expansion that shows how deeply commercial GM truck hardware is now woven into military planning.
The driverless Silverado rides on a dual-rear-wheel skateboard architecture stripped back to drive-by-wire controls, with onboard and export power and open interfaces for modular payloads. It carries a 100-kWh rechargeable energy-storage system and is rated for a maximum payload of 8,000 pounds.
Autonomy comes from Scout AI's Gx Ground Agent driving system. The AUSA display also paired the truck with a LOCUST X3 counter-drone laser weapon and a Squarehead Discovair G2+ acoustic drone-detection sensor.
A crowded field for the heavy variant
The ISV-Heavy program, a heavier sibling to the current Infantry Squad Vehicle, remains in a competitive prototype phase. The Army awarded prototype agreements to GM Defense, Ford and BC Customs in late June 2026, and each company must deliver three prototype vehicles by March 30, 2027. Operational assessments will then shape a potential buy of about 606 ISV-Heavy trucks.
Public descriptions of GM Defense's ISV-Heavy stop short of confirming a specific Silverado Heavy Duty trim, battery size or final powertrain layout, though electrified options are under consideration. The current ISV, by contrast, is based on the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 architecture.
Ford has its own stake in the military pickup space. Its Super Duty platform has already appeared in Army and government testing, and the company's F-Series trucks have featured in separate experiments exploring autonomous and driver-assist technology for defense use.
The wider ISV program keeps growing
GM Defense self-funded an ISV-Utility variant and delivered seven prototypes to the Army for unit-level assessments at no cost. The five-soldier version is expected to field across 39 active-duty and National Guard mobile brigades once production ramps up.
The scale of the ISV order, now approaching 12,000 vehicles from an initial 649, is the clearest sign yet that commercial truck platforms have become the default foundation for Army light mobility. That matters for buyers too: the same Colorado and Silverado underpinnings underpinning military fleets are the ones civilians can spec at a dealership, and the volume should help amortize the engineering behind them.
Rivals are pursuing the same playbook. Ineos has pushed the Grenadier into military contracts, with armored derivatives like the Grenadier EPV targeting defense and security roles overseas.
What happens next
The unmanned Silverado stays in the concept and trials phase for now. GM Defense aims to have a technology demonstrator ready for Army use by June 2027, so no fielding decision or production timeline has been announced.
"The modern defense landscape demands advanced capability, rapid fielding and sustainable scale," said Steve duMont, president of GM Defense.
