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Kodiak Robotics says taking its self-driving trucks off-road can provide a nearer-term path to profitability.Image Credits:Kodiak Robotics
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Don Burnette , chief operating officer and carbon monoxide gas - founder of ego - driving truck startup Kodiak Robotics , had an “ aha ” moment when the company protrude make for with the U.S. Department of Defense .
Kodiak ’s missionary post has always been to quest for long - haul self-governing trucking , but two twelvemonth ago , the startup won a$50 million contractfrom the DoD to help the Army automate ground vehicles for high - risk missions . That mountain provided Kodiak with admission to much - demand capital during a challenging financial backing marketplace ; it also cave in the inauguration a chance to test its self - driving stack in unstructured , off - route surround .
The experience unlocked an idea : go off - route could provide a loyal path to market than driving motortruck on highways .
Kodiak this calendar week announced plan to set up a fully driverless commercial trucking service by the end of 2024 or in other 2025 , in partnership with Atlas Energy Solutions , a provider of proppant ( i.e. , guts ) and oilfield logistics .
Kodiak and Atlas have been running driverless test for a few months now . In May , the two fill out Kodiak ’s first driverless speech run . A semi truck with no human driver on board — onlyKodiak ’s autonomous driving hardware and software stack — render frac backbone for Atlas in West Texas ’s distant Permian Basin . The 21 - stat mi stretch of land where Kodiak drove has no paved route or anatomical structure of any kind — only “ cactuses and President George W. Bush out there , ” read Burnette .
Driving off - route presents AV companies with a unique problem arrange . For example , the vehicle ca n’t rely on HD single-valued function because oftentimes there are n’t any ; off - road environments also change with unlike weather experimental condition .
Burnette said in Texas ’ desert , “ the gumption is constantly shifting , and everything ’s change by the hour . ”
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“ So the vehicle has to make sense of what is the drivable surface ? How do you get to the destination ? ” said Burnette . “ And that ’s something that the engineering at Kodiak has really honed over the last couple of years , and it ’s especially been aim by our work with the DoD. ”
The founding father noted that , at least in Atlas ’s sheath , going off - road provides a better intersection - food market fit today than tenacious - haul hauling .
Atlas ’ sand - go operation run 24/7 , according to Burnette , which imply the truck are more expensive to manoeuver because they need at least three shifts of drivers to keep them moving .
“ So the value of autonomy in this particular domain is actually high per hand truck than the economic value of over - the - route hauling , ” say Burnette . “ On top of that , given the bodily structure of the surround , give the speeds , we were able to already validate our driverless operation with the technology that we had developed and that mean we can in effect deploy this year . ”
Kodiak still design to pursue the long - haul hauling route in parallel to its study with Atlas and the DoD. But that path to taxation - generation is a much longer one . In edict to be sustainable and finally reach that end , Kodiak needs to get yield much sooner .
Kodiak ’s deal with Atlas will involve two trucks to set off , with more being add down the occupation . The startup will go a number one wood - as - a - divine service fashion model , where Atlas will grease one’s palms the truck directly from an OEM , and Kodiak will kit out them out with its technical school and offer on-going support and monitoring services .
Kodiak is n’t the only sovereign driving inauguration to wiretap DoD money to pursue an off - route itinerary to mart . The Army sooner this year award Overland AI , another company developing a self - driving system for military surgery , up to $ 18.6 million to build a epitome autonomous software system slew for its robotic combat fomite computer program . Overland is among a craw of startup and more mature company chip at out anoff - road nichein the Ab sector .
“ I believe at this percentage point , ” allege Burnette , “ it ’s the companies that find paths to lucrativeness as presently as potential that are ultimately get to be the one that advance in the end . ”
