Dive Brief:
- Kodiak AI has added another autonomous freight lane in Texas through a partnership with Charger USA, according to an Oct. 8 press release.
- Charger trucks, equipped with the Kodiak’s autonomous driver system, are transporting refrigerated and dry freight for consumer packaged goods and food and beverage customers along the 435-mile stretch between Charger’s terminals in Dallas and Laredo, Texas.
- The deal comes less than a month after Kodiak announced plans to launch a fully driverless long-haul service between Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston with Ikea this year.
Dive Insight:
Kodiak and Griffith, Indiana-based Charger completed their first delivery on Sept. 8 with a safety driver onboard. Kodiak intends to eventually run the route without a driver, though it first needs to complete its safety case, a milestone the company expects to reach by the end of 2026.
Kodiak isn’t the only autonomous company Charger has tapped for the Dallas-Laredo lane, however. In July, Aurora Innovation announced that Charger would use the Aurora Driver on Aurora’s second-generation trucks, starting on the freight corridor, which Charger says is among its busiest.
Meanwhile, Kodiak’s first unsupervised driverless lane will run between Dallas-Forth Worth and Houston along 219 miles of Interstate 45. From there, the company plans to add more long-haul driverless lanes in 2027 and beyond, said Daniel Goff, VP of external affairs, in an emailed statement to Trucking Dive.
Kodiak gauges its progress with what it calls the Autonomy Readiness Measure, or ARM, which tracks the share of claims and evidence in its safety case that are complete. The metric stood at 96% in September, Goff said.
“Once we complete our launch safety case, we will commence driverless operations between Dallas and Houston,” Goff said in the statement.
Kodiak and Charger plan to expand their partnership over time, adding more Kodiak Driver-equipped trucks and lanes across Charger’s network in North America, according to the release. Charger has 481 power units and 542 drivers in its fleet, per the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
"Charger came to us knowing what they wanted from autonomy and what they need to see before scaling it," said Don Burnette, Kodiak founder and CEO, in the release. "That clarity makes for a strong collaboration.”
