Dive Brief:
- Kodiak Robotics has landed a partner to give big rigs the ability to drive autonomously: Michigan mobility and technology firm Roush Industries, the companies announced June 18.
- Roush will create a production line this year in the Detroit suburb of Livonia. These upfitted trucks are anticipated to be for Kodiak’s first customer, Atlas Energy Solutions, according to a news release.
- “Kodiak’s technology and engineering rigor set a high bar, and we believe we are uniquely positioned to meet that bar at scale,” Roush VP Contract Manufacturing Brad Rzetelny said in the announcement.
Dive Insight:
Roush, which formed nearly 50 years ago, is a longterm partner in the auto industry, and has deep experience launching into AVs.
The firm can adapt to a wide array of vehicle configurations, including different cab types, axle setups and heavy-duty applications, to “meet the diverse demands of the trucking industry,” according to Kodiak CEO and founder Don Burnette.
“Unlike traditional factory-line integration, which is limited to a single configuration, we believe that working with Roush will allow us to move faster and customize vehicles to meet customer needs,” Burnette said in the news release.
Roush’s AV experiences includes working with Virginia-based Perrone Robotics to outfit AVs.
The Roush facility has space for multiple trucks to be worked on at the same time, and the business will play a key role in meeting Kodiak’s overall goal to build tens of trucks this year and hundreds of trucks next year before scaling further, Director of External Affairs Daniel Goff told Trucking Dive.
With Kodiak already running operations 24/7 for Atlas with four AVs, Atlas is already reaping the benefits of the technology. The company has committed to a 100-truck order, and Kodiak has staffed an operations outpost in Odessa, Texas, where workers can provide remote assistance if needed.
Running a driverless fleet still takes people, Goff said.
