Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2023 - 18

truck-sensor
modularity
Enhancing
AUTONOMOUS FEATURE
The new platform demonstrated on the diesel-powered
Kenworth T680 adds two wide-angle cameras to the hoodmounted
mirrors to cover blind spots.
On the defense
Kodiak Driver-equipped trucks deliver freight daily for
customers such as IKEA and Tyson Foods across the
southern U.S., operating autonomously on the highway
portions of the routes. Wiesinger said its trucks have
accumulated more than 115,000 miles (185,000 km) of
safe autonomous operation for IKEA, running between
Houston and Dallas.
" We are running our trucks on the road, hauling
Enhanced perception capability and easier maintenance are two major benefits
of the new autonomous-system setup.
" With Kodiak as a partner, we're confident in our ability to serve this
vital segment [long-haul trucks] of the emerging self-driving industry. "
Kodiak's fifth-generation truck also includes aerospace- and military-grade
technology, according to Wiesinger. The main connector
for data and power in the SensorPods and compute system was designed
for use in aviation, aerospace and military applications. The
compute hardware is manufactured by Crystal Group.
Engineers improved the hardware stack - which includes two onboard
custom-designed safety computers, the Kodiak Actuation
Control Engine - and reduced the electrical power requirements
while improving the processing power of the system. In addition to
130% more GPU processing power, the new system reportedly provides
60% more central-processing capability and additional system
redundancy. The reduced power consumption allowed for a 50% reduction
in the size of the fifth-generation power system and decreased
cooling needs.
18 August 2023
freight for our customers. But in the future, we want to
integrate our system onto their trucks. That's our future
business model, " Wiesinger said, noting that longer
routes such as Dallas to Atlanta are ideal for autonomous
trucks. The startup currently focuses solely
on the U.S. market, but it " definitely has global aspirations, "
he added.
The company now is laying the groundwork for future
expansion beyond long-haul trucking. In December
2022, Kodiak was awarded a $49.9 million, 24-month
U.S. Department of Defense agreement to help automate
future U.S. Army ground vehicles led by the
Army's Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) program. The
vehicles will perform reconnaissance, surveillance and
other high-risk missions.
Kodiak says it was the only autonomous-vehicle company
initially selected for this award out of 33 submissions.
The first year will be devoted to applying its autonomous
software stack for Army-specific use cases. In
year two, the company will implement its autonomousdriving
system on off-road vehicles capable of operating
remotely in complex, unpredictable conditions.
TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
FROM LEFT: SAE/RYAN GEHM; KODIAK ROBOTICS
Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2023

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