Kodiak Robotics customer completes delivery of 100 loads with driverless trucks
Autonomous truck developer Kodiak Robotics and Atlas Energy Solutions announced that Atlas has delivered 100 loads of proppant with its two RoboTrucks, semi-trucks equipped with the Kodiak Driver, Kodiak’s self-driving system.
This milestone marks the first time a customer has taken ownership of a RoboTruck and launched driverless commercial semi-trucking operations, according to a news release.
The initial driverless operations, which were announced in July 2024, involved Kodiak delivering Atlas’s frac sand along a 21-mile (33.7-km) off-road route in West Texas’ Permian Basin with Kodiak-owned driverless trucks.
Atlas is now able to complete its own driverless deliveries across the Permian Basin and eastern New Mexico.
“This is an incredible moment, for us and for the autonomous trucking industry as we have officially delivered a commercial RoboTruck to a customer and launched commercial operations,” said Don Burnette, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Kodiak. “The commercialization of autonomous trucks has been a goal for the industry for many years, and it has now come to fruition. Kodiak is the first company to make autonomous trucking a real business, and this is a major step towards profitability for our company.”
Atlas intends to scale its RoboTruck deployment over the course of 2025 with multiple RoboTruck deployments expected throughout the year.
“Incorporating these driverless RoboTrucks into our operations is a significant advancement in the automation of our business, enhancing our ability to maintain a fundamentally safe and reliable service at the best price for our customers,” said John Turner, CEO, Atlas.
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To me I don’t think that automation is safe as there should be a back up driver with the truck. That way if something was to go wrong with the truck the driver can take over. As with all computers things do break down and with a truck it’s more dangerous.