Autonomous truck maker Kodiak has announced it has partnered with Roush to upfit its Kodiak driver system to trucks.
Production will begin in the second half of this year, the company said in a news release, noting the partnership will help it to scale up deployments.
Roush will upfit trucks at a facility in Livonia, Mich., with the first units going to existing customer Atlas Energy Solutions, which has been running Kodiak’s autonomous trucks since last year.
The Kodiak hardware is vehicle-agnostic, and Roush plans to dedicate a production line to upfits.
“Kodiak’s autonomous trucking technology is an exciting advancement in the mobility industry,” said Brad Rzetelny, vice-president, contract manufacturing, Roush. “Together, we’re working to build a robust and repeatable manufacturing process that supports Kodiak’s transition from limited production to full-scale deployment. Kodiak’s technology and engineering rigor set a high bar, and we believe we are uniquely positioned to meet that bar at scale.”
“Roush’s deep experience upfitting autonomous vehicles makes them an ideal production partner for Kodiak,” added Don Burnette, founder and CEO, Kodiak.
“We believe that Roush’s strong quality management processes will ensure our customers’ Kodiak Driver-powered trucks will be built to exacting standards, while giving us the manufacturing flexibility tosupport a wide range of vehicle configurations, including different vehicle and cab types, axle setups, and heavy-duty applications to meet the diverse demands of the trucking industry. Unlike traditional factory-line integration, which is limited to a single configuration, we believe that working with Roush will allow us to move faster and customize vehicles to meet customer needs.”
