Atlas Energy Solutions Inc. and Kodiak Robotics, Inc. today announced that the two companies have entered into an agreement whereby new Atlas high-capacity trucks will be outfitted with Kodiak’s autonomous driving technology. The two companies have already completed their first driverless delivery of frac sand in West Texas’s Permian Basin, the 21-mi delivery transported from an Atlas depot to a well-site with no one inside the cab.

Atlas has ordered Kodiak Driver-equipped trucks that will deliver frac sand across the Permian Basin’s existing infrastructure of private lease roads. It plans to launch commercial operations early next year using its first two trucks with the technology.

“Atlas’s partnership with Kodiak is another example of the unique culture of innovation that is pervasive inside our organization,” said John Turner, CEO of Atlas.

Kodiak will provide its technology to Atlas via a driver-as-a-service licensing agreement. Atlas will own the trucks, and Kodiak will provide the Driver’s fully redundant, platform-agnostic, hardware and software stack designed for scalable driverless deployment. The autonomous technology company will also provide operational support services including remote monitoring from its operations center in Lancaster, TX.

“Our partnership with Atlas will make us the first autonomous semi-truck company to establish commercial driverless operations, and the first company to make autonomous trucking a real business,” said Don Burnette, Founder & CEO of Kodiak.

The hot and dry climate in the Permian Basin makes it one of the world’s most challenging environments for truck drivers. The Kodiak Driver is equipped to handle driving through harsh conditions, including dust storms that impact visibility and extreme heat.

“The Permian Basin’s expansive private lease road network, which expands across the Delaware and Midland Basins, is an ideal environment in which to introduce autonomous trucking in North America,” said Chris Scholla, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Atlas. “With average traffic speeds of under 20 mph on these large swaths of private roads, we can safely deliver a more reliable last-mile solution to our customers in the Permian Basin. This truly represents a step-change in oilfield logistics.”

Challenging environments with more of an off-road focus are AV use cases Kodiak is continuing to explore.

In May, the company announced a collaboration with Textron Systems Corp. to develop an autonomous military ground vehicle specifically for driverless operations. Kodiak will integrate its Driver into a Textron Systems uncrewed military vehicle prototype.

The collaboration marks the first integration of Kodiak autonomous technology into a vehicle designed without space for a human driver. It also represents a model for bringing artificial-intelligence-powered autonomous technologies to military customers and demonstrates the Kodiak Driver’s adaptability to a range of vehicle types including off-road.

“The future of autonomous military ground vehicles is dual-use technology developers like Kodiak working with industry leaders like Textron Systems,” said Burnette. “Collaborating with Textron Systems will allow us to showcase the capabilities of Kodiak’s AI-powered, driverless technology in military, off-road environments.”

The system being developed by the companies will operate using the same core technology that’s embedded in Kodiak’s autonomous long-haul trucks. The vehicle will feature Kodiak DefensePods, an adapted version of Kodiak’s modular, swappable SensorPods designed for military use. The pre-calibrated, pre-built hardware enclosures, which include the sensors for autonomous driving, can be swapped out by trained technicians in the field in 10 min or less.

“Joining forces with Kodiak allows us to bring cutting-edge autonomous technology to our industry-leading uncrewed military ground vehicle systems, progressing the functionality, adaptability, reliability, and ruggedness of our technologies,” said Textron Systems’ David Phillips, Senior Vice President, Land and Sea Systems. “Integrating our vehicle with Kodiak’s AI-powered autonomy software and pioneering modular DefensePods represents a major step forward in delivering a mission-ready autonomous system.”

As they look to accelerate automation in military ground vehicles, the partners intend to demonstrate driverless operations later in 2024 and to jointly explore future opportunities with the U.S. Department of Defense and the militaries of other allied nations. Deploying uncrewed vehicles to perform high-risk and complex tasks in the field will assist the U.S. military in removing servicemen and women from harm’s way while enhancing national security.

Kodiak’s collaboration with Textron Systems builds on the company’s expansion to diversify applications of its Driver for military vehicles. In December 2023, Kodiak unveiled its first autonomous test vehicle designed specifically for the DoD, a Ford F-150 upfit with its autonomous technology.