Kodiak Robotics has formally handed off two autonomous vans to buyer Atlas Energy Solutions, marking the startup’s first business launch.
Atlas, a supplier of proppant (i.e., sand) and oilfield logistics, obtained its first Kodiak-equipped vans in December and commenced driverless operations in an off-road setting in West Texas’s distant Permian Basin shortly after. The firm has already delivered 100 hundreds utilizing self-driving vans and not using a human security driver behind the wheel, in accordance with Kodiak founder and CEO Don Burnette.
“This is the primary time, so far as we’re conscious, that the shopper is proudly owning and working the driverless automobile, as an alternative of the AV firm, and we predict that is the mannequin of the long run,” Burnette advised TechCrunch.
Until now, Kodiak — and its rivals within the house like Aurora Innovation and Waabi — has carried out business pilots for patrons on highways with human security drivers behind the wheel. During these pilots, Kodiak-owned vans ran freight on behalf of shippers or carriers. The aim, although, is to promote the AI Driver-as-a-Solution to firms like Atlas. In different phrases, Kodiak and others don’t need to run their very own transport operations in the long term, however reasonably concentrate on promoting the self-driving know-how.
For comparability, within the robotaxi trade, firms like Waymo and previously Cruise have owned and operated their very own ride-hail providers, however Waymo’s latest partnerships with Uber and Moovit sign that the corporate could finally bow out of working such providers, too.
Kodiak first introduced its partnership with Atlas in July 2024 after the 2 accomplished Kodiak’s first driverless run delivering frac sand in West Texas’s distant Permian Basin — an unstructured, off-road setting. While Kodiak nonetheless has lively pilots working freight on highways and plans to pursue long-haul autonomous trucking, the Atlas deal is a key a part of the startup’s near-term go-to-market technique.
Off-road autonomy has its personal set of distinctive challenges — like a consistently altering panorama and no HD maps to depend on — nevertheless it presents a quicker path to income than freeway driving, in accordance with Burnette.
And that wager is already bearing fruit.
Kodiak is now producing income from Atlas by a mixed {hardware} and software program annual subscription that features the price of Kodiak’s modular sensors, that are fitted onto the Atlas-owned vans, in addition to the self-driving software program, monitoring, and replace providers.
“We combine APIs into [the customer’s transportation management system] that enables Atlas to make use of their present instruments to successfully inform the driverless vans the place to go,” Burnette stated. “But extra importantly, they management the logistics. We’re not concerned in that. We simply make it possible for whereas the vans are working, that they’re up, they’re wholesome, they’re secure, and if there are any points, we are able to step in and carry out upkeep.”
Atlas, which operates throughout the 75,000-square-mile Permian Basis in Texas and New Mexico, plans to scale its driverless trucking deployments over the course of the yr, so Kodiak has established an workplace in close by Odessa, Texas to assist Atlas’ operations — an 18,000-square-foot facility with a workforce of 12 Kodiak workers. Kodiak intends to develop that quantity to about 20 individuals by the tip of the primary quarter.
