Kodiak Robotics, an AI-powered autonomous vehicle technology, and Roush Industries, a product development supplier serving mobility, aerospace and defense industries, have announced that the companies will work together to scale upfitting of autonomous trucks equipped with the Kodiak Driver, Kodiak's advanced AI-powered autonomous solution.
Starting in the second half of 2025, Roush will upfit these trucks in its facility in Livonia, Michigan. The first trucks Roush will upfit are expected to be for Kodiak's customer, Atlas Energy Solutions, as Kodiak and Atlas work to expand the driverless operations they began in December 2024.
In collaboration with Kodiak, Roush has committed to open a production line for scaled upfitting of trucks equipped with the Kodiak Driver's modular and vehicle-agnostic hardware. This hardware includes Kodiak's proprietary SensorPods, AI compute, Actuation Control Engine safety compute, and redundant actuation elements.
Roush has also committed to design, develop and implement a flexible manufacturing process that can scale as Kodiak increases its upfit of Kodiak Driver-powered trucks to meet customer demand.
Brad Rzetelny, VP Contract Manufacturing, Roush, said, "Kodiak's autonomous trucking technology is an exciting advancement in the mobility industry. Together we're working to build a robust and repeatable manufacturing process that supports Kodiak's transition from limited production to full-scale deployment."
Don Burnette, Founder and CEO, Kodiak, said, "Roush's deep experience upfitting autonomous vehicles makes them an ideal production partner for 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 to support 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."
