FEATURE Electric and Autonomous Vehicles
Kodiak Robotics ushers in a new era of autonomous long-haul transportation
Kodiak Robotics integrates autonomous technology into commercial trucks, writes Don Burnette, its founder and CEO M
any industry analysts believe long-haul commercial trucking is likely to be the fi rst to adopt
autonomous vehicle technology, since highway driving is a less complicated problem to solve compared to the many challenges presented by negotiating secondary roads and city streets. In addition, the trucking industry can economically benefi t from vehicle autonomy: The cost of an autonomous driving system is more easily amortised in a truck that runs between one million and two million miles. Plus, the average human-driven truck is only used for 7.5 hours a day, due to hours of service limitations. An autonomous truck can double or even triple truck use, only stopping to refuel and drop off or pick up loads.
Against this backdrop, Kodiak Robotics was established in 2018 with the goal to
develop autonomous technology for the long-haul environment, easily integrated into carriers’ fl eets. Kodiak’s autonomous solution, the kodiakDriver, includes a modular hardware system, known as SensorPods, that integrates sensors to “see” the environment from the truck’s mirror-mount points. These pods can be swapped within minutes, maximising fl eet uptime without the need for specially- trained technicians to install the devices and recalibrate the sensor network. Since launching its operations hub near Dallas, Texas, in the US, in 2019, Kodiak has completed several pilots, including many uninterrupted round trips from Dallas to Atlanta with the kodiakDriver. Since August 2022, Kodiak has been making autonomous freight deliveries in Texas for home goods retailer IKEA, operating seven days a week between a distribution centre in Baytown and the IKEA store in San Fancisco.
Vicor power solutions at its heart Kodiak quickly identifi ed three areas in an AV trucking environment where the power system design needs reliability, effi ciency and the ability to perform in-system health monitoring. These requirements drew Kodiak to partner with Vicor Power Systems, where experts design high- density, high-performance power systems based on Vicor’s power modules. The Kodiak power system uses several of these modules to support its trucks’ sensor needs, operating with 12V, 24V and 48V. The modules chosen for the job include Vicor’s NBM6123, BCM6123, PRMs and VTMs – all delivering reliable, highly- effi cient power conversion in very small packages. Vicor also provided design support to enable a controllable output feature to every component in the system and optimising component health by monitoring the voltage and current on all Kodiak sensors. The Kodiak platform includes four basic buses that must be directed to specifi c sensors, actuators and processors. Each output is monitored and individually controlled through a proprietary CAN bus. Vicor additionally provides battery
charging for a 48V system when the truck is stationed and plugged in for recharging. The AC shore power system maintains the battery charge level when the engine is not running, allowing maintenance technicians to use the vehicle indoors. By using this Vicor system, Kodiak reduced the size of the cabling in the trucks, saving space, weight and, ultimately, cost.
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Kodiak uses a unique Sparse Mapping approach, which contains the information needed to make autonomy possible
34 April 2023 | Automation
Kodiak Robotics
kodiak.ai
automationmagazine.co.uk
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