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Kodiak’s autonomous driving platform was particularly constructed for autonomous trucking. | Supply: Kodiak Robotics
The US Military and the Protection Innovation Unit (DIU) awarded Kodiak Robotics with a 24-month, $49.9 million contract in October. Kodiak beat out 33 different autonomous automobile corporations for the chance.
Below the contract, Kodiak will work with the Military’s Robotic Fight Car (RCV) program. The corporate will develop an autonomous answer that can be utilized in future Military floor automobiles for reconnaissance, surveillance and different high-risk missions. Kodiak will develop distant driving capabilities alongside its autonomous capabilities to offer the Military extra flexibility with its automobiles.
“At Kodiak, we’re honored to tackle the problem of creating know-how to guard those that defend us. We consider our work with the Military and DIU will each assist strengthen nationwide safety and additional speed up our path to industrial deployment of our long-haul self-driving trucking know-how,” Kodiak’s CEO and founder Don Burnette mentioned in a launch. “We owe a debt of gratitude to the servicemen and girls who step into hurt’s solution to hold us secure; maintaining them secure in return is an honor we take critically.”
The military hopes to make use of the venture to maintain up with the most recent industrial applied sciences by making a steady technical pipeline that can allow speedy growth and deployment of latest autonomous automobile applied sciences as they grow to be commercially out there.
The contract additionally provides Kodiak the chance to enhance its Kodiak Driver, the corporate’s autonomous trucking platform.
Final yr, Kodiak introduced in $125 million in Collection B funding, bringing its complete 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 vehicles 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 received’t be the corporate’s first time working with authorities companies. In 2021, it obtained a U.S. Air Power Small Enterprise Innovation Analysis (SBIR) contract. Below the contract, Kodiak labored with the Dover Air Power Base to develop a software program platform for simulated autonomous automobiles that may navigate the Dover flightline.
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