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Kodiak’s autonomous driving platform was particularly constructed for autonomous trucking. | Source: Kodiak Robotics
The United States Army and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) awarded Kodiak Robotics with a 24-month, $49.9 million contract in October. Kodiak beat out 33 different autonomous car corporations for the chance.
Under the contract, Kodiak will work with the Army’s Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) program. The firm will develop an autonomous answer that can be utilized in future Army floor autos for reconnaissance, surveillance and different high-risk missions. Kodiak will develop distant driving capabilities alongside its autonomous capabilities to offer the Army extra flexibility with its autos.
“At Kodiak, we are honored to take on the challenge of developing technology to protect those who defend us. We believe our work with the Army and DIU will both help strengthen national security and further accelerate our path to commercial deployment of our long-haul self-driving trucking technology,” Kodiak’s CEO and founder Don Burnette stated in a launch. “We owe a debt of gratitude to the servicemen and women who step into harm’s way to keep us safe; keeping them safe in return is an honor we take seriously.”
The military hopes to make use of the challenge to maintain up with the newest business applied sciences by making a steady technical pipeline that can allow fast growth and deployment of latest autonomous car applied sciences as they change into commercially accessible.
The contract additionally provides Kodiak the chance to enhance its Kodiak Driver, the corporate’s autonomous trucking platform.
Last yr, Kodiak introduced in $125 million in Series B funding, bringing its whole funding on the time to $165 million. Kodiak’s autonomous driving system is purpose-built for long-haul trucking. The fourth-generation truck has a modular sensor suite that features a middle pod on the truck’s entrance roofline and pods built-in into each aspect mirrors. Kodiak’s autonomous vans deal with the on-highway driving, whereas a human driver handles getting on and off the freeway and driving to the ultimate vacation spot.
This gained’t be the corporate’s first time working with authorities businesses. In 2021, it obtained a U.S. Air Force Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract. Under the contract, Kodiak labored with the Dover Air Force Base to develop a software program platform for simulated autonomous autos that may navigate the Dover flightline.