Forterra, a prominent U.S. developer of autonomous vehicles, announced today the deployment of over 100 self-driving ATVs to Ukrainian conflict zones over the past nine months. This initiative marks what the company believes to be the most extensive combat deployment of autonomous ground vehicles by any U.S. defense technology firm.
“I believe this to be true of every defense technology that’s ever been created—until you hit the realities of combat, you’re just not going to know,” stated Scott Sanders, Forterra’s chief growth officer and a former U.S. Marine officer, in an interview with TechCrunch.
This mission, backed by U.S. defense funding, is integral to a broader strategy aimed at modernizing the U.S. military through its support for Ukraine's resistance against Russian aggression. While aerial drones have significantly dominated the conflict, creating vast surveillance-heavy "no-go zones" where detection often means aerial attack, Ukrainian strategists have increasingly turned to ground-based autonomous solutions.
Sergeant Major Corey Wilkens, who leads a U.S. Army program focused on developing autonomous vehicles and tactics, emphasized the current battlefield reality: “There’s nowhere to hide. You become very, very vulnerable to be able to be attacked by [first-person view drones], other sorts of drones dropping munitions, artillery, mortar, the full range of things that they have.”
Ukraine is actively developing its own uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs) for logistics, such as transporting supplies and munitions or evacuating wounded soldiers. However, these indigenous UGVs are typically battery-powered and limited to carrying up to 250 kilograms, as noted by an anonymous Ukrainian soldier who has worked with these vehicles.
In contrast, Forterra’s Lancer vehicles, built upon Polaris ATVs and featuring a bespoke sensor and compute stack, are gas-powered and boast a 750-kilogram cargo capacity, significantly enhancing their versatility and utility. The Ukrainian soldier lauded them, stating, “The bottom line is that this UGV for logistics and just maintaining our defense is the most important UGV in Ukraine. It’s fucking fantastic, and we are dying to get more.”
This strong endorsement wasn't immediate. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have experienced mixed results with Western contractors introducing new technologies. Initially, Forterra’s offerings seemed overly tailored to the high-end specifications of the U.S. Army. However, modifications—particularly the integration of a Starlink satellite internet antenna—transformed the vehicles into a crucial asset.
Since their deployment last October, these vehicles have covered over 2,500 miles across more than 1,100 missions, transporting a total of 777,440 pounds of cargo and successfully completing 52 casualty evacuations. Some units have been lost in combat, especially when immobilized in challenging terrain like deep mud, making them easy targets for Russian forces.
Forterra has gleaned vital insights from this deployment, including lessons on electronic warfare, remote software updates, maneuvering in difficult conditions, and ensuring vehicle reliability. The company, which has secured over $500 million in venture funding from investors such as XYZ Venture Capital and Moore Strategic Partners, is now better positioned to compete for lucrative national security contracts.
The deployment has also highlighted the current limitations of full autonomy in combat. Ukrainian soldiers primarily teleoperate the vehicles in active zones, partly due to their high value and partly because autonomous systems are not yet fully equipped to handle the complex, unpredictable realities of warfare.
For instance, while the vehicles can autonomously navigate diverse terrains, they currently lack the capability to identify unexpected enemy forces and react appropriately. The Ukrainian soldier explained, “We actually need to be able to respond to the enemy threats, live, while it’s in front of the enemy, which the autonomy doesn’t know how to do yet.”
Forterra, a pioneer in autonomous vehicle development for two decades, is actively researching how to integrate conventional self-driving car algorithms with advanced generative AI software. This aims to enable machines to react to their surroundings in a more generalized and adaptable manner. A significant challenge, as with other autonomous systems, remains the acquisition of relevant and accurate data.
Sanders elaborated to TechCrunch: “There’s a lot of things you have to do that aren’t available in an open source model because they’re not things that humans do, whether that’s figuring out how to navigate a minefield or [operating] a weapon system. You need to be able to turn the dials and some things more of a classical robotics approach, and then leverage AI where you need to.”
Other companies in this sector are tackling similar challenges. Scout AI, for example, recently raised $100 million to develop foundation models and a suite of autonomous military platforms, including UGVs. Startups like Field AI and Overland AI are also conducting UGV trials with the U.S. military.
Despite the current limitations of UGVs, American military experts are convinced of the imperative to invest in these technologies. Wilkens affirmed, “Ground autonomy is achievable now and we’ve seen it.”
Scott Philips, Forterra’s chief innovation officer, personally visited a Ukrainian unit’s operations center to observe the vehicles in action, earning significant respect for venturing into an area within range of Russian attacks.
Philips shared his observations with TechCrunch: “What struck me most was seeing exactly where the seams are: which steps are still manual, where data has to be re-entered or re-verified by hand, and where the team has already found ways to automate or speed things up. That’s the kind of ground truth you can’t get from a slide deck because it shows you precisely where better tooling could take pressure off the people doing this work in real time.”
A key request from the Ukrainians is to make the vehicles more affordable. While Forterra’s Lancers are competitively priced within their category, largely due to leveraging Polaris’ commercial supply chain for the base vehicle, they remain too valuable to be deployed with the same expendability as UAVs.
“Attrition is just a fact of this battlefield, and we have lost a few at this point, and it hurt, and we need more, and therefore we need them cheaper,” the Ukrainian soldier underscored to TechCrunch.
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