Atlas Energy Solutions has achieved a significant milestone by completing 100 proppant deliveries using its autonomous RoboTruck fleet, making it the first semi-truck customer to operate driverless deliveries with its own vehicles. These RoboTrucks are equipped with Kodiak Robotics’ self-driving system, marking a major step forward in the commercialization of autonomous trucking.
Image Credit: Kodiak Robotics, Inc.
These semi-trucks, powered by Kodiak’s self-driving system, mark the first-ever instance of a customer owning and operating fully autonomous commercial semi-trucking operations.
Initially, in July 2024, Kodiak conducted driverless operations with its trucks, transporting frac sand for Atlas along a 21-mile off-road route in West Texas’s Permian Basin. Now, equipped with Kodiak’s cutting-edge technology, Atlas’s RoboTrucks are independently delivering across the 75,000-square-mile Permian Basin, spanning West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. This positions Kodiak as the first company to launch commercial driverless trucking operations in the autonomous trucking industry.
This is an incredible moment, for us and for the autonomous trucking industry as we have officially delivered a commercial RoboTruck to a customer and launched commercial operations. The commercialization of autonomous trucks has been a goal for the industry for many years, and it has now come to fruition. Kodiak is the first company to make autonomous trucking a real business, and this is a major step towards profitability for our company.
Don Burnette, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Kodiak Robotics, Inc.
Atlas is set to expand its fleet significantly in 2025, with multiple RoboTruck deployments planned. To support this, Kodiak has established a new 18,000-square-foot office in Odessa, Texas. Currently housing 12 employees, the facility is projected to grow to 20 staff members by the end of Q1 2025.
The launch of Kodiak’s driverless trucking service coincides with Atlas’s first use of the Dune Express, a 42-mile fully electric conveyor system. This system transports sand from Atlas’s Kermit, Texas facility to a loadout site in eastern New Mexico. From there, the RoboTrucks deliver the sand to customers across the Delaware Basin. The Dune Express and RoboTrucks are central to Atlas’s strategy to fully automate its logistics chain, enhancing safety, efficiency, and reliability while also cutting down on public road truck traffic to improve overall safety.
Incorporating these driverless RoboTrucks into our operations is a significant advancement in the automation of our business, enhancing our ability to maintain a fundamentally safe and reliable service at the best price for our customers. Becoming the first company to operate our own autonomous semi-trucks and reaching 100 successful autonomous proppant deliveries demonstrates our unique commitment to driving innovation and automation across the Permian Basin’s rugged terrain, dust, and heat.
John Turner, Chief Executive Officer, Atlas Energy Solutions Inc.
Before rolling out driverless operations, Kodiak completed an extensive safety case to confirm its technology’s readiness within Atlas’s operational domain. The first customer-owned RoboTrucks were delivered in December 2024, with driverless services officially starting on December 18, 2024. This milestone marks the beginning of Kodiak’s roadmap toward broader commercialization, which includes extending its autonomous capabilities to highway applications for long-haul customers.
Kodiak’s RoboTrucks feature its sixth-generation platform, complete with redundant components that ensure safe operation without a safety driver. These trucks also use Kodiak’s proprietary SensorPods™, modular and pre-calibrated units that house the sensors needed for autonomous driving. This design allows for quick and easy repairs, further enhancing reliability and efficiency.