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Autonomous truck company Kodiak Robotics is expected to reach revenue faster than other companies, COO James Reed said in a podcast last week.
Talking about The Road to Autonomy podcastReed discussed the factors involved in the technology company’s competitive advantage, which includes a 24-month contract with the US military for almost 50 million dollars.
“Driver autonomy in the trucking industry is going to happen in the very near future,” Reed said, adding that “there are two people who are really making significant progress at this point in the classic space. And Kodiak is at the top of that list.”
The autonomous trucks have Light Detection and Ranging sensors where there are side mirrors along with radar sensors and 12 cameras. The company debuted the sixth-generation truck on Tuesday at the Las Vegas Convention Center for this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.
The latest iteration, which includes five years of real-world testing, means the company’s driverless truck technology is complete in hardware and software, Kodiak said in a press releasesignaling that the device is ready to operate.
“We are the first and only company to have developed a full driverless semi-truck with the level of car-class safety advantages required to deploy on public roads,” said Kodiak co-founder and CEO Don Burnette.
Kodiak plans to complete the first driverless routes in the second half of 2024, which will run between Dallas and Houston, according to the company. Its test routes have spanned all parts of the country, including regular commercial routes within Texas as well as routes involving Oklahoma City and Jacksonville, Florida.
“We believe we can get to revenue and therefore profitability faster than anyone else,” Reed said. “We only need very small fractions of the existing integrated truck base to convert to autonomy for this company to be extremely profitable.”