Forward Air and Kodiak Robotics have become the first companies to operate a consistent autonomous trucking service between Dallas and Atlanta.

Kodiak Robotics, a California-based self-driving trucking company, and Forward Air, a Tennessee-based asset-light provider of transportation services across the USA, Canada and Mexico, are delivering expedited freight 24 hours a day, six days a week.

They are making three round trips weekly between Dallas and Atlanta.

Providing a consistent service creates operational and technical complexities. Despite these, Kodiak says it has maintained a perfect safety record and provided top-quality customer service to Forward. To date, Kodiak has delivered more than 100 loads and driven more than 160,000km since it began working with Forward in August 2022.

To maintain the demanding schedule and abide by the hours-of-service regulations, Kodiak’s self-driving truck operates with a safety driver team overseeing the autonomous system.

“To serve our customers, we always need to be on the forefront of exploring emerging technologies,” said Tom Schmitt, CEO of Forward. “Kodiak has earned an outstanding reputation in safe autonomous trucking, and this collaboration allows us to explore potential benefits to our business. While we don’t see autonomous trucks replacing independent contractor capacity, this could potentially be scalable for certain lanes in our network.”

Kodiak’s ability to operate a consistent 24-hour service across the nearly 1200km freight lane between Dallas and Atlanta is largely attributable to the reliability and ruggedness of Kodiak’s autonomous system and the flexibility of its sparse mapping approach that speeds the process of introducing new autonomous lanes. Kodiak can issue real-time, fleet-wide mapping updates over-the-air.

“We are proving out our business model by moving time-sensitive freight across thousands of miles and multiple hours of service through our collaboration with Forward,” said Don Burnette, CEO of Kodiak. “The tweener lane between Dallas and Atlanta is long and difficult to staff, so it perfectly illustrates how autonomous trucks can make the supply chain more efficient and resilient and supplement our customers’ human driven fleets. At the same time, we are showcasing the reliability and ruggedness of our autonomous system, which is able to operate for six days straight without needing rest or recalibration, a significant achievement.”

Kodiak’s agreement with Forward is the latest in a growing series of fleet and carrier relationships the company has announced. Previously, the company announced partnerships with Ikea, Werner Enterprises, US Xpress, 10 Roads Express and Ceva Logistics.

Kodiak Robotics was founded in 2018 to develop autonomous technology that carries freight. The company is developing a technology stack purpose-built for long-haul trucks. Its modular hardware approach integrates sensors into a streamlined sensor-pod structure that optimises for perception, scalability and maintainability. The company delivers freight for its customers along six routes in Texas, Oklahoma and south-east USA, operating autonomously on the highway portions of the routes.

Forward Air provides expedited less-than-truckload services, including local pick-up and delivery, shipment consolidation and deconsolidation, warehousing, and customs brokerage by using a national network of terminals. It offers final kilometre services, including delivery of heavy-bulky freight, truckload brokerage services, including dedicated fleet services, and intermodal, first-and last-kilometre, high-value drayage services, both to and from seaports and railheads. Also available are dedicated contract and container freight station warehouse and handling services.