To become profitable, autonomous trucks need to be able to cover as much ground as a manned vehicle. Now, Kodiak Robotics Inc. announced that it has expanded its autonomous freight service to Florida with 10 Roads Express, a fleet provider for the U.S. Postal Service.
To launch this partnership, Kodiak completed a round trip consisting of four commercial deliveries, including a coast-to-coast commercial run. A Kodiak autonomous truck carried 10 Roads Express freight nearly 5,600 miles from San Antonio, Texas; to the San Francisco Bay Area; to Jacksonville, Florida; and back to San Antonio. The route was completed in 114 hours. Kodiak mapped more than 5,400 new miles in a single mapping run to bring the new route online.
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“This expansion further demonstrates the scalability and flexibility of our autonomous solution, the Kodiak Driver,” said Don Burnette, Kodiak founder and CEO.
As part of the partnership, 10 Roads (No. 32 on the FleetOwner 500: For-Hire list) will join Kodiak’s Partnership Deployment Program to evaluate the potential of integrating Kodiak’s autonomous solution into its fleet in the coming years.
“This partnership is an opportunity to stay abreast of this technology’s progress and evaluate its benefits,” said Wayne Hoovestol, CEO at 10 Roads Express.
The establishment of autonomous service along the I-10 corridor to Jacksonville comes as Kodiak has significantly expanded its service footprint in 2022. Kodiak has added new lanes, including the recent launch of commercial operations between Dallas and Oklahoma City with CEVA Logistics and the launch of freight operations between Dallas and Atlanta with U.S. Xpress. Kodiak has been delivering freight daily between Dallas to Houston since 2019 and between Dallas and San Antonio since 2021.
