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Kodiak’s autonomous driving platform was particularly constructed for autonomous trucking. | Supply: Kodiak Robotics

America 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 car corporations for the chance. 

Underneath the contract, Kodiak will work with the Military’s Robotic Fight Automobile (RCV) program. The corporate will develop an autonomous resolution that can be utilized in future Military floor autos 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 autos. 

“At Kodiak, we’re honored to tackle the problem of growing know-how to guard those that defend us. We imagine 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 stated in a launch. “We owe a debt of gratitude to the servicemen and ladies who step into hurt’s approach to hold us secure; maintaining them secure in return is an honor we take severely.”

The military hopes to make use of the challenge to maintain up with the newest industrial applied sciences by making a steady technical pipeline that can allow fast growth and deployment of recent autonomous car applied sciences as they turn into commercially obtainable. 

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 Sequence 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 facet mirrors. Kodiak’s autonomous vans 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 businesses. In 2021, it acquired a U.S. Air Drive Small Enterprise Innovation Analysis (SBIR) contract. Underneath the contract, Kodiak labored with the Dover Air Drive Base to develop a software program platform for simulated autonomous autos that may navigate the Dover flightline.