Driverless trucks will begin by hauling sand across fracking sites in Texas. Photo: Courtesy of Kodiak
Kodiak Robotics will supply autonomous driving technology to Atlas Energy Solutions, a key player in the fracking business, it announced today.
Atlas plans to take delivery of its first two Kodiak-equipped trucks by the end of the year.
Driving the news: The companies said they've already completed a fully driverless delivery of frac sand in Texas' Permian Basin: a 21-mile journey from an Atlas depot to a well site.
Kodiak says it was the first driverless commercial semi-truck freight delivery in North America.
The big picture: Kodiak says hauling materials in industrial settings like the oilfields of west Texas is a new and potentially lucrative market for driverless semi trucks.
Operations like those in the Permian Basin, with its private road network and slow speeds, can also serve as a proving ground before operating on public highways, Kodiak CEO Don Burnette tells Axios.
What they're saying: Burnette called industrial logistics "a stepping stone toward an over-the-road launch" that generates real revenue today.
"This allows us to stress and flex a lot of the muscle that will ultimately be required when we launch over-the-road operations."
