In this fortnightly online column, ADM journalist Corey Lee Bell covers defence news across Japan and the Republic of Korea.
Japan’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) has awarded a contract to Japanese AI tech startup Abeja for an intensive study on self-driving AI technology, as the Japan Self Defense Forces (JSDF) ramp up efforts to accelerate a “transition” towards autonomous/semi-autonomous unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) systems.
The contract with Abeja, which has an ambitious March 27 completion deadline, will examine existing visual language action (VLA) models to identify suitable technology for UGV’s autonomous navigation.
VLA models enable autonomous systems such as robots to handle real world situations by combining observations of visual cues and reasoning.
The tender announcement shortly follows the allocation of ¥4.5 billion (A $42 million) for a transport, reconnaissance and combat support “AI-driven off-road UGV” system, to be teamed with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), as one of the seven major research priorities in the cabinet-approved 2026 defence budget.
That listing came less than six months after a ¥8.7 billion (A $80 million) grant proposal for a five-year project titled “Research on a UAV-teamed, AI driven offroad unmanned ground vehicle (UGV)” received a unanimous recommendation in the Japanese Ministry of Defense’s (MoD) 2025 Policy Evaluation Report.
The Report, citing the emphasis on automated and autonomous systems in the 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS) and Defense Buildup Program (DBP), asserted “a need to quickly obtain” a long range, offroad autonomous UGV system that can operate in GNSS-denied environments, allow a single operator to control multiple units, reduce processing loads through efficient AI algorithms, and that can expedite mission execution through teaming with a small UAV.
It also recommended integrating civilian-grade technology from startups, as well as drawing from the expertise and experience of the US military, to shorten development times and minimise costs – while acknowledging that in-house development will be needed due to the scarcity of like-for-like specifications among existing commercial and military UGVs.
ATLA has increased research into UGVs since the release of the NDS/DBP, with a February 2025 paper by ATLA’s Ground Systems Research Center (GCRC) reporting progress on simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) and active laser scanning technologies (i.e., LiDAR) which could help UGVs operate in GNSS-denied environments.
A presentation later in the year by the UGV’s Unmanned Ground Vehicles and Engineer Equipment Systems Section reported that preliminary research had already begun on linking UGVs and LiDAR-equipped UAVs for this purpose.
2025 also saw several UGV-related tenders offered by ATLA.
In October last year ATLA awarded an A $12 million contract to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to research and produce a semi-autonomous UGV system before April 2028, in line with the tenets of ATLA’s Rapid Acquisition Program.
Contracts were also on offer for a bomb disposal unmanned vehicle and scoping studies on procurement options for a multi-purpose (attack, reconnaissance and squad support) UGV.