Kodiak Robotics has unveiled its first autonomous test vehicle for the US Department of Defense: a converted Ford F-150 pickup truck with the start-up’s in-house software and sensor equipment.
The Department of Defense is using the vehicle to test autonomous surveillance and reconnaissance missions in rugged terrain, varied operational conditions and GPS-challenging environments. Kodiak won the $50 million, two-year contract in December 2022 and now has another year to produce two off-road vehicles based on the F-150 to build and deliver. If the pilot is successful, Kodiak could be one of the future partners of the military as this advances autonomous military applications.
Although Kodiak’s main focus is the market for self-driving trucks Many advanced mobility companies are recognizing military application as a faster route to revenue. The Department of Defense partnership is primarily focused on delivering the software and sensor suite and working with hardware vendors to integrate the Kodiak Driver into a purpose-built, next-generation ground-based reconnaissance vehicle.
Kodiak aims to offer a software and sensor suite that can be integrated into different types of vehicles and covers a wide range of use cases. This is where Kodiak’s modular and interchangeable SensorPods come into play, which the company also uses in its Class 8 trucks. Kodiak claims that its pods have been customized for defense applications and that the so-called DefensePod can be replaced in less than 10 minutes by a technician on site without any special training. It took the company less than six months to integrate the Kodiak Driver into a new vehicle. The ability to deploy the autonomous driving system in various non-highway environments is seen as a strategic advantage that Kodiak wants to exploit.