ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International
  • News
    • A-L
      • ADAS
      • AI & Sensor Fusion
      • Business
      • Connectivity
      • Cybersecurity
      • Expo
      • HMI
      • Last-mile delivery
      • Legislation & Standards
      • Localization/GNSS
    • M-Z
      • Mapping
      • Off-Highway
      • Robo-Taxis
      • Sensors
      • Shared Mobility
      • Safety
      • Simulation
      • Testing
      • Trucks
      • V2X
  • Features
  • Online Magazines
    • January 2025
    • September 2024
    • April 2024
    • January 2024
    • Subscribe
  • Opinion
  • Videos
  • Supplier Spotlight
  • Events
LinkedIn Facebook Twitter
  • Automotive Interiors
  • Automotive Testing
  • Automotive Powertrain
  • Professional Motorsport
  • Tire Technology
  • Media Pack
LinkedIn Facebook
Subscribe
ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International
  • News
      • ADAS
      • AI & Sensor Fusion
      • Business
      • Connectivity
      • Cybersecurity
      • Expo
      • HMI
      • Last-mile delivery
      • Legislation & Standards
      • Localization/GNSS
      • Mapping
      • Off-Highway
      • Robo-Taxis
      • Sensors
      • Shared Mobility
      • Safety
      • Simulation
      • Testing
      • Trucks
      • V2X
  • Features
  • Online Magazines
    1. April 2025
    2. January 2025
    3. September 2024
    4. April 2024
    5. January 2024
    6. Subscribe
    Featured
    April 15, 2025

    In this Issue – April 2025

    Online Magazines By Web Team
    Recent

    In this Issue – April 2025

    April 15, 2025

    In this Issue – January 2025

    November 29, 2024

    In this Issue – September 2024

    July 23, 2024
  • Opinion
  • Videos
  • Supplier Spotlight
  • Events
  • Awards
    • About
    • Shortlist
    • Judges
LinkedIn Facebook
Subscribe
ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International
Sensors

Kodiak Robotics reveals next-generation autonomous truck featuring maintenance-friendly sensor suite

Anthony JamesBy Anthony JamesSeptember 28, 20214 Mins Read
Share
LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Email

Californian self-driving truck company Kodiak Robotics has revealed its fourth-generation autonomous truck, complete with a sensor suite comprising a Luminar Iris lidar, ZF full-range radar, and Hesai 360° scanning lidars for side- and rear-view detection, all connected to an Nvidia DRIVE platform. The new rigs also feature smart-sensing tire technology from Bridgestone Americas. The fourth-generation trucks will hit US highways from Q4 of 2021, as Kodiak begins to take delivery of 15 new tractors.

The modular and discreet sensor suite sees a slim profile ‘center pod’ on the front roofline of the truck, and pods integrated into both of the side mirrors. Kodiak says this arrangement vastly simplifies sensor installation and maintenance, and increases safety, with the new trucks designed with greater fleet uptime, manufacturing and serviceability in mind – all of which are critical to scale quickly, safely and efficiently.

“Complex and bulky systems that require an engineer to hand-build and hand-tune are expensive, unreliable, and difficult to debug,” said Don Burnette, co-founder and CEO of Kodiak Robotics. “We believe that reliability and scalability flow from simplicity, and the best hardware modifications should be barely visible. Our fourth-generation platform is designed for simple, scaled production which means easy calibration, troubleshooting and maintenance for our partners.”

Kodiak Vision
Kodiak’s perception system, Kodiak Vision, considers every sensor – including lidar, camera and radar – as ‘primary’. Kodiak Vision fuses together the information from the sensors and considers the relative strengths and weaknesses of each type. This incorporates extra redundancies and cross-validates data, adding another layer of safety to the self-driving system, according to the company.

Kodiak says its fourth-generation truck further improves Kodiak Vision’s performance and reliability by incorporating the ZF full-range radar and Luminar’s long-range Iris lidar. These sensor integrations, combined with Kodiak’s integration with Hesai 360° scanning lidars, for side- and rear-view detection, provide the necessary automotive-grade reliability needed for long-haul trucks.

The four-dimensional (4D) ZF full-range radar measures the distance, height, lateral angle and velocity of an object out to more than 300m. This contrasts with traditional radar, which cannot measure the vertical position of an object, effectively viewing the world from the top and down like a map. 4D radar is critical for autonomous trucks because it allows the system to distinguish overhead objects – such as road signs and bridges – from road hazards like stopped vehicles under a bridge or an overhead sign.

Luminar’s new automotive-grade Iris lidar’s wide horizontal and vertical field of view enables Kodiak trucks to recognize objects both near and far, adding further redundancy for long-range detections up to 600m. The high resolution and range allows the system to reliably ‘see’ objects such as pedestrians and motorcycles. The lidar’s slim design has a profile of just 10cm, ensuring easy integration into Kodiak Robotics’ discreet center-roof pod, in the front of the truck.

Kodiak Robotics’ patent-pending mirror pods, which will start with one Hesai lidar, two long-range 4D radars and three cameras, don’t require specialized sensor calibration for easy upfit and repair. Rather than replacing a sensor in need of maintenance, a mechanic can simply replace the mirror pod in a matter of minutes. This single point of integration will allow maintenance and serviceability at scale.

The new trucks will eventually feature Nvidia’s ISO 26262 ASIL-D-compliant Drive Orin supercomputing platform, once available, capable of providing more than 250 TOPS (trillion operations per second) of compute performance. In the interim, Kodiak will use the current generation Nvidia Drive AGX Pegasus to process the data from the cameras, allowing the autonomous system to perceive the surrounding environment.

Fleet size to double
Kodiak has placed an order for an additional 15 PACCAR trucks that will be delivered over the next year. The trucks will more than double the company’s fleet size and help Kodiak expand its growing business delivering freight for commercial customers in Texas and beyond. Over the next couple of years, the company plans to expand throughout the southern half of the USA into other freight-rich corridors. 

Kodiak trucks run exclusively on Bridgestone tires and will be equipped with Bridgestone cloud-connected sensors that capture critical tire-centric data. That data will be analyzed and processed into live actionable insights, increasing uptime, improving overall safety, and enhancing the operational efficiency of Kodiak’s automated systems.

Share. Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Email
Previous ArticleTech tie-up to drive seamless integration of test data across software verification and validation workflow
Next Article Toyota subsidiary Woven Planet Holdings acquires Renovo Motors

Related Posts

Safety

Elektrobit and Metoak partner on SDV safety ecosystem development

May 12, 20252 Mins Read
Trucks

Hyundai Motor and Plus unveil autonomous hydrogen freight ecosystem concept

May 12, 20252 Mins Read
Videos

WATCH: Riding the Wayve with Sir Richard Branson

May 9, 20251 Min Read
Latest News

Elektrobit and Metoak partner on SDV safety ecosystem development

May 12, 2025

Hyundai Motor and Plus unveil autonomous hydrogen freight ecosystem concept

May 12, 2025

EXPO NEWS: Opens next week!

May 12, 2025
FREE WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER

Receive breaking stories and features in your inbox each week, for free


Enter your email address:


Our Social Channels
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
Getting in Touch
  • Free Weekly E-Newsletters
  • Meet the Editors
  • Contact Us
  • Media Pack
RELATED UKI TOPICS
  • Automotive Interiors
  • Automotive Testing
  • Automotive Powertrain
  • Professional Motorsport
  • Tire Technology
  • Media Pack
© 2025 UKi Media & Events a division of UKIP Media & Events Ltd
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Notice & Takedown Policy
  • Site FAQs

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.

CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Functional

Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.

Performance

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

Analytics

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

Advertisement

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.

Others

Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.

SAVE & ACCEPT