Kodiak

What does spaceflight have to do with autonomous trucks? A lot more than you might think. On The Road to Autonomy®, Kelly Smith, Kodiak’s Lead Systems Engineer for Autonomy Software, breaks down how his experience working on the NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Artemis missions helps build the Kodiak Driver, from probabilistic risk assessment and Monte Carlo simulation to fault management, redundancy, and the discipline of preparing for what you haven’t seen yet. A strong listen for anyone interested in space, autonomy, and how serious safety engineering actually gets done. Links to the full podcast and Kelly’s blog are in the comments.

Defense doesn’t need theoretical autonomy. It needs autonomy that’s already operating in demanding environments. Kodiak Defense will be at Modern Day Marine in Washington, D.C., April 28-30 at booth 2860. Stop by to meet the team and learn how Kodiak is applying commercial autonomy to defense ground missions, from autonomous resupply to modular mission payloads.

A truck is an inanimate object. It doesn't care if it's moving.   Kodiak Board Member James Reed came to trucking from semiconductor manufacturing, where running below 97% capacity meant losing money.   His observation when he arrived in the industry? Trucks sit idle 60 to 70% of the time.   That's not a driver problem. That's a utilization problem. And it's one of the autonomous trucks that are uniquely positioned to solve.   Watch James break it down with Kodiak COO Michael Wiesinger in this clip from our full TCO conversation.   Full video linked in the comments.

Autonomous trucking has entered early commercialization. On Bloomberg Intelligence’s Talking Transports podcast, Don Burnette joins Lee Klaskow to discuss why the Physical AI behind the Kodiak Driver has applications far beyond trucking, and why Kodiak is staying focused on building a strong commercial foundation first.

The next chapter for autonomous trucking is about execution. Kodiak COO Michael Wiesinger will be at Ride AI tomorrow in San Francisco for “Autonomous Trucking Hits High Gear,” joining a conversation on what it takes to move autonomous trucking from industry promise to commercial reality. See you there.

Innovation doesn’t move on vision alone. It needs policy that keeps up with where technology is headed. That’s why Kodiak joined TechNet: The Voice of American Innovation. We’re looking forward to working alongside other technology leaders and contributing to the conversation around how autonomy can make roads safer and help grow the U.S. economy.

Eight years ago, Kodiak started with a bold idea and a hard problem: build the technology that could change how freight moves. Since then, the Kodiak Driver has proven its strength far beyond a single application. Built for long-haul trucking, it’s also expanded across industrial operations and defense. Along the way, customer-operated trucks powered by the Kodiak Driver have surpassed 3 million autonomous miles, 10,700 hours of paid driverless operations, 12,600 loads delivered, and 20 driverless trucks operating with no humans onboard. Progress like that is earned. It comes from disciplined execution, a sharp focus on customer needs, and a team willing to do the hard work over and over until the technology is ready for the job. More than 40 Kodiakers have been with us for over five years, helping turn an early idea into a driverless product that tackles the most demanding driving jobs. They said it would never work. Turns out, the work speaks for itself.

Autonomous trucking is moving into the Midwest. Kodiak recently completed its first over-the-road autonomous operations in the Midwest through a collaboration with DriveOhio, hosted by ODOT and INDOT. Along the I-70 corridor and at the Transportation Research Center in Ohio, we showed how the Kodiak Driver handles key highway scenarios including construction zones, merges, passing slower vehicles, disabled vehicles, and pedestrian crossings. This milestone extends Kodiak’s reach into a major Midwest freight corridor.

Most industries talk in dollars. Trucking talks in fractions of pennies.   When you're running hundreds of millions of miles, every tiny inefficiency compounds into a massive cost problem. And every improvement compounds into a massive opportunity.   Kodiak Board Member James Reed spent 15 years as a trucking CFO and CEO before joining our board. In this clip from our recent TCO conversation, he explains why the economics of trucking are so unforgiving and why that makes the case for autonomous trucks so compelling.   Watch the clip, then catch the full conversation with James and Kodiak COO Michael Wiesinger in the comments.