GM Defense Turns A Chevrolet Silverado Into A Driverless Logistics Truck

GM Defense scales its Infantry Squad Vehicle program and unveils a Silverado 3500HD-based unmanned ground vehicle planned for Army trials in 2027.

GM Defense Unmanned Ground Vehicle concept

Photo by: GM Defense

Brian Potter

By: Brian Potter

Oct 13, at 5:55am ET

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GM Defense just showed up to the Army's biggest trade show with a driverless Silverado. At the AUSA 2026 Annual Meeting on October 12, the General Motors subsidiary unveiled an unmanned ground vehicle built on the Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD.

Alongside it came news that the Army's infantry truck order has grown nearly twentyfold.

The Army's planned Infantry Squad Vehicle fleet has jumped from an initial 649 units to nearly 12,000 vehicles. That expansion, paired with a new autonomous logistics truck, signals how deep commercial GM hardware is now embedded in military planning.

GM Defense Expands The Infantry Squad Vehicle Program

GM Defense Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV)

GM Defense Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV)

Photo by: GM Defense

The Infantry Squad Vehicle and its heavier sibling, the ISV-Heavy, both trace their roots to existing Chevrolet truck platforms. The current ISV is based on the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 architecture. ISV-Heavy is still in a competitive prototype phase, with GM Defense, Ford and BC Customs each developing designs.

GM Defense self-funded development of 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.

Separately, the Army awarded ISV-Heavy prototype agreements to GM Defense, Ford and BC Customs in late June 2026. Each company must deliver three prototype vehicles by March 30, 2027. After that, the Army will run operational assessments to shape a potential buy of about 606 ISV-Heavy trucks.

Public descriptions of GM Defense's ISV-Heavy focus on it as a heavier Infantry Squad Vehicle built from commercial truck underpinnings, with electrified options under consideration. They stop short of confirming a specific Silverado Heavy Duty trim, battery size or final powertrain layout.

Ford has its own stake in this shift toward military-grade pickups. The automaker's Super Duty platform has already found its way into Army and government testing. Ford's F-Series trucks have appeared in separate experiments exploring autonomous and driver-assist technology for potential defense use.

Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD Anchors GM Defense's UGV Concept

GM Defense Next Gen tactical vehicle

GM Defense ISV - Heavy

Photo by: GM Defense

The unmanned ground vehicle GM Defense displayed at AUSA uses a dual-rear-wheel skateboard architecture based on the Silverado 3500HD, stripped down to drive-by-wire controls, onboard and export power, and open interfaces for modular payloads. It is built for silent logistics runs and casualty evacuation, not combat.

Specs released alongside the concept show a 100-kWh rechargeable energy-storage system and an 8,000-pound maximum payload. Autonomy comes from Scout AI's Gx Ground Agent driving system. The display also paired the truck with a LOCUST X3 counter-drone laser weapon and a Squarehead Discovair G2+ acoustic drone-detection sensor.

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None of this is in soldiers' hands yet. GM Defense aims to have a technology demonstrator of the UGV ready for Army use by June 2027, so the vehicle stays in trials while concept work continues.

"The modern defense landscape demands advanced capability, rapid fielding and sustainable scale," said Steve duMont, president of GM Defense. The line matches the company's wider effort to turn commercial truck platforms into exportable military hardware. Rivals are doing the same with vehicles such as the Ineos Grenadier for military contracts and armored derivatives like the Grenadier EPV that target emerging defense and security roles overseas.

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Source: GM Defense

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