Four autonomous ground vehicles took part in a DARPA RACER demonstration against simulated threats at St. Vith Range, Fort Knox, Kentucky, on October 15, 2026, according to an Army.mil report republished by DARPA.
The vehicles operated as a team to move through the range, search for and detect targets during the demonstration. The reported scenario included a simulated rocket and simulated targets; it was a field demonstration rather than evidence of real combat use or battlefield effectiveness.
Jason Gregory, a DARPA technical advisor, said the vehicles’ mobility, movement and target detections were autonomous. But he said information detected by the systems was sent to a human, who had to approve any engagement. In his description, the operator retained control over what action to take after the robots identified something.
The test involved the Robotic Autonomy in Complex Environments with Resiliency program, known as RACER. DARPA published the article on October 27, 2026, noting that Army.mil originally published it on October 22, 2026.
Source: https://www.darpa.mil/news/2026/autonomous-vehicles-deliver