A driverless Kodiak truck hauls sand in West Texas.
Kodiak Robotics, a Silicon Valley startup developing driverless big rigs to carry freight on the highway, is pivoting to get its tech into commercial operation by going offroad – where signs, traffic signals, other vehicles, public agencies and regulations aren’t a top concern. It’s got a first-of-its-kind deal to start running robot trucks for Atlas Energy between remote West Texas sand mines and oil and gas fields on private roads that founder and CEO Don Burnette says is a game-changer for his company.
“We wanted to find an industry that had a real need and could take advantage of the strengths we had developed over the last several years,” he told Forbes. Atlas understands “the benefits of autonomy and they also have a real need because it's very hard to hire drivers in that type of environment.”
Starting in early 2025 a handful of driverless semis with software, sensors and a computing system created by Kodiak will haul sand on routes of up to 25 miles each way to sites in the oil-rich Permian Basin, running round the clock. In addition to not having to contend with most of the potential hazards posed by highways – particularly other vehicles and high speeds – the trucks will travel at less than 20 miles an hour.
“That dramatically simplifies the problem from a (sensor) perception perspective, from a ranging........