Dive Brief:
- Atlas Energy Solutions and Kodiak Robotics are working to commercialize self-driving trucks to deliver frac sand across West Texas in the Permian Basin, the companies announced Tuesday.
- Kodiak will equip Atlas-owned trucks with its technology, which Atlas has ordered as part of a driver-as-a-service licensing agreement.
- By the end of the year, Kodiak technology will operate 24/7 for the energy company, the autonomous driving provider said in a video about the partnership.
Dive Insight:
A self-driving truck without a driver has already made a 21-mile delivery from an Atlas depot to a wellsite, the company and Kodiak said in the release.
The private, leased roads with average traffic speeds under 20 mph still create challenges with dust storms impacting visibility as well as heat, but the autonomous trucks are able to navigate the harsh conditions, the companies said.
“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,” Kodiak CEO and founder Don Burnette said in the announcement.
Other companies are also pushing boundaries, including Einride operating a driverless truck in Tenessee and Gatik initiating self-driving operations in Bentonville and northwest Arkansas; the Dallas-Fort Worth area; and the Toronto area.
Early next year, Atlas plans to operate two Kodiak-equipped trucks. Burnette called it the “beginning of a new era for autonomous vehicles.”
