INDUSTRY WATCH
AUTONOMOUS TRUCKS ARE ALSO MORE FUEL-EFFICIENT AS INDICATED BY A STUDY FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO .
contributes to increased road safety and better working conditions for truck drivers on longer distances . The self-driving truck has a professional safety truck driver behind the wheel who picks up a loaded trailer at the distribution center each morning and oversees the autonomous delivery to the store by late afternoon .
“ We are proud to be working with Kodiak to achieve our ambitious goals of being at the forefront of innovation and building capabilities for future transportation ,” said Dariusz Mroczek , Category Area Transport Manager , IKEA Supply Chain Operations . “ Kodiak ’ s technology will contribute towards our objective to put the driver in focus in the transition towards automated transportation and towards our road safety agenda .”
Don Burnette , Founder and CEO , Kodiak Robotics , added : “ IKEA and Kodiak share a commitment to putting safety first . Together we can enhance safety , improve working conditions for drivers and create a more sustainable freight transportation system . Adopting autonomous trucking technology can improve drivers ’ quality of life by focusing on the local driving jobs most prefer to do . We look forward to working with the IKEA carrier partners to bring these benefits to the IKEA supply chain .”
Kodiak Robotics , a leading self-driving trucking company , has started co-operation with IKEA Supply Chain Operations by piloting autonomous freight deliveries in Texas . The co-operation , which began on August 8 2022 , includes a Kodiak autonomous heavy-duty truck transporting IKEA products seven days a week between the IKEA Distribution Center in Baytown and the IKEA Store in Frisco .
The main purpose is to get a better understanding of how Kodiak ’ s autonomous driving technology
Autonomous trucks are also more fuel-efficient as indicated by a study from the University of California San Diego which estimated that self-driving trucks consume roughly 10 % less fuel than traditional manually driven trucks on diesel-fueled fleets .
Leveraging its built-for-scale solution , Kodiak has been rapidly and safely adding new lanes . These include the recently announced launch of commercial operations between Dallas and Oklahoma City and service between Dallas and Atlanta . Kodiak has been delivering freight daily between Dallas to Houston since mid-2019 and delivering freight between Dallas and San Antonio since mid-2021 .
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