Company
Kodiak AI
American autonomous-trucking company (Nasdaq: KDK), founded 2018 by Don Burnette (ex-Otto/Uber).
- Founded
- 2018
- HQ
- Mountain View, California, USA
- Status
- public
Appears inLogistics robots
Models
2
Deployments
2
Overview
American autonomous-trucking company (Nasdaq: KDK), founded 2018 by Don Burnette (ex-Otto/Uber). Developer of the Kodiak Driver (L4). Runs customer-owned driverless trucks up to 24/7 hauling frac sand for Atlas Energy in the Permian Basin, and is targeting on-highway long-haul driverless freight in the second half of 2026. Went public via the Ares Acquisition Corp II SPAC in September 2025 and rebranded from Kodiak Robotics to Kodiak AI.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- 2 deployments on file
- Active incidents
- None on file
DEPLOY Intelligence
Market intelligence for physical AI
Analyst-grade signals, competitive tracking, and investment context across the global physical AI landscape. Launching 2026.
Key facts
Founded
2018 by Don Burnette (ex-Otto/Uber)
Public
Nasdaq: KDK / KDKRW (via Ares Acquisition Corp II SPAC, closed Sept 2025; rebranded Kodiak Robotics to Kodiak AI)
Driverless commercial
Customer-owned driverless RoboTrucks up to 24/7 hauling frac sand for Atlas Energy in the Permian Basin (off-highway lease roads)
Q1 2026
28 driverless trucks, 23,500+ paid driverless hours, revenue +74%
Next
On-highway long-haul driverless target H2 2026
CEO
Don Burnette
SPAC merger
Ares Acquisition Corp II (AACT)
Key customers
Atlas Energy Solutions, JB Hunt, C.R. England
First customer-owned driverless fleet
Atlas Energy Solutions, Permian Basin
Data & sources
Company filings
2
Press releases
2
News coverage
5
Web sources
3
12 sources backing this record.View all →
Models (2)
View all models →Current platform
Kodiak Driver
Autonomous driving system (retrofit kit + compute stack) for Class 8 semi-trucks; LiDAR + radar + camera sensor fusion.
Current platform
Kodiak RoboTruck
Kodiak's autonomous Class 8 truck (the RoboTruck), running the Kodiak Driver on a Peterbilt/PACCAR base (a driverless electric Class 8 variant was also introduced in 2023). Operates driverless commercially in the Permian oilfield and is the platform for the on-highway long-haul product targeted for H2 2026.
Kodiak AI on the deployment map
Where Kodiak AI's robots are verified operating. Explore the deployment map by place and type.
Relationships
Explainers
Plain-language answers to the questions people ask about Kodiak AI, from DEPLOY’s explainer library. Each is written in the language of the question and cross-checked against this registry.
- What is Aurora and how does its autonomous trucking work?
Aurora Innovation is a US autonomous-vehicle company exclusively focused on commercial Class 8 trucking. Aurora launched commercial driverless trucking service between Dallas and Houston in April 2024 with freight customers including Werner Enterprises, Hirschbach Motor Lines, and Schneider. The company was founded by Chris Urmson (Google self-driving alumni) with Sterling Anderson and Drew Bagnell; it is a publicly-traded NASDAQ company following a 2021 SPAC merger.
- How do Bot Auto, Kodiak, and Einride compare for self-driving trucking?
Bot Auto, Kodiak AI, and Einride operate three structurally distinct autonomous-trucking strategies. Bot Auto runs Class 8 humanless commercial truckloads on Texas corridors via brokered freight (Houston-Dallas). Kodiak AI operates customer-owned driverless trucks at Atlas Energy's Permian Basin frac-sand operations. Einride runs autonomous electric cabless trucks under a private-road point-to-point commercial model (GE Appliances in Tennessee). Three operators, three different envelopes, three different commercial bets.
Current leadership (7)
- Don Burnette Founder & CEOsecondary-verified
- Surajit Datta Chief Financial Officersecondary-verified
- Andreas Wendel Chief Technology Officersecondary-verified
- Michael Wiesinger Chief Operating Officersecondary-verified
- Jordan Coleman Chief Legal & Policy Officersecondary-verified
- Don Burnette Co-founder & CEOsince 2018-01-01secondary-verified
- Paz Eshel Co-founder & Presidentsince 2018-01-01secondary-verified
Founders (4)
- Don Burnettecofounderfounded 2018-01-01
- Paz Eshelcofounderfounded 2018-01-01no longer at company
- Don Burnettecofounderfounded 2018-01-01
- Paz Eshelcofounderfounded 2018-01-01
Board (7)
- James Reed chair
- Don Burnette director
- Mo Elshenawy director
- Kenneth Goldman director
- Allyson Satin director
- Kristin Sverchek director
- Scott Tobin director
Former / Previously (1)
- Paz Eshel Co-founder & former COOsecondary-verified
Safety record
No incidents on record for Kodiak AI.
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →
Operated deployments (2)
- Kodiak DriverTexas
- Kodiak RoboTruckUnited States
Operator customers (2)
- Kodiak AI2 deployments
- Atlas Energy Solutions1 deployment
Brains developed (1)
- Kodiak Driverfoundation-model · commercial
Recent coverage
Kodiak AI in third-party press
Peer companies
- Tesla4 models
- Aurora Innovation3 models
- Waymo3 models
- Caterpillar2 models
- Caterpillar Mining2 models
- Embark Trucks2 models
Financial state
- Reporting basis
- sec_10q
- Lifecycle stage
- distressed
- Counterparty risk class
- high
- Going concern
- flaggedPublic (NASDAQ:KDK, SPAC Sep 2025); auditor expressed substantial doubt about going concern, under one year of cash runway, Q1 2026 operating loss about 37.9M USD, FY2026 FCF guided negative 160-170M USD; raised 100M USD PIPE May 2026.
Each numeric field carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.
Partnerships (3)
- Kodiak AI x Bosch Autonomous Trucking Hardware with Boschmanufacturing
- Kodiak AI x USMC (ROGUE-Fires Autonomy) with U.S. Marine Corpsdeploymentannouncedreported, not operationally verified
- Kodiak AI x DriveOhio with DriveOhiodeploymentconcluded
Funding rounds (3)
- PIPE2026-05-07
$100M
- Series B2021-06-01
$125M(reported)
Investors: SoftBank Vision Fund (lead), BMW i Ventures, LG Technology Ventures
- Series A2019-10-01
$40M(reported)
Investors: Breakthrough Energy Ventures (lead)
Sources (12)
- https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/07/self-driving-truck-startup-kodiak-robotics-raises-40-million/
- https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/07/kodiak-ai-self-driving-truck-startup-don-burnette-paz-eshel-fundraise.html
- https://kodiak.ai/company
- https://www.therobotreport.com/kodiak-robotics-autonomous-trucking-developer-goes-public-via-spac/
- https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/14/autonomous-trucking-startup-kodiak-robotics-to-go-public-via-spac/
- https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001853138/000119312525079657/d948522dex991.htm
- https://investors.kodiak.ai/news-releases/news-release-details/kodiak-completes-business-combination-ares-acquisition
- https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001853138/000119312525202878/d945093dex991.htm
- https://www.ttnews.com/articles/autonomous-kodiak-goes-public
- https://www.freightwaves.com/news/kodiak-ai-now-a-public-company-looks-to-deliver-an-autonomous-trucking-future
- https://www.freightwaves.com/news/kodiak-ai-q1-2026-earnings-28-driverless-trucks
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/07/kodiak-ai-raises-100m-at-a-steep-discount-sending-its-stock-tumbling-37/
Common questions
- What is Kodiak AI?
- American autonomous-trucking company (Nasdaq: KDK), founded 2018 by Don Burnette (ex-Otto/Uber). Developer of the Kodiak Driver (L4). Runs customer-owned driverless trucks up to 24/7 hauling frac sand for Atlas Energy in the Permian Basin, and is targeting on-highway long-haul driverless freight in the second half of 2026. Went public via the Ares Acquisition Corp II SPAC in September 2025 and rebranded from Kodiak Robotics to Kodiak AI.
- What does Kodiak AI make?
- Kodiak AI has 2 robot models on the DEPLOY registry: Kodiak Driver, Kodiak RoboTruck (Kodiak AI builds both physical robots and the AI that runs them).
- Is Kodiak AI publicly traded?
- Kodiak AI is not yet publicly traded but is in the process of going public, per the DEPLOY registry.
- Who competes with Kodiak AI?
- On the DEPLOY registry, peer companies to Kodiak AI building in the same form factors include Tesla, Aurora Innovation, Waymo, Caterpillar.
- Where is Kodiak AI headquartered?
- Kodiak AI is headquartered in Mountain View, California, USA.
- Where does Kodiak AI operate robots?
- Kodiak AI operates 2 verified deployments, including at Texas, United States.
- Is Kodiak AI a top robotics company?
- On DEPLOY's intelligence score, which blends verified deployments, funding, hiring, media, safety, and IP signals, Kodiak AI ranks in roughly the top 24% of companies tracked by the registry.
- When was Kodiak AI founded?
- Kodiak AI was founded in 2018.
- Is Kodiak AI safe?
- Kodiak AI has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.
Methodology: Verified · 12 sources (4 primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-08
Verification posture
Verified
High confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-07-08
Sources by quality tier
- 3
- secondary-industry-publication
- Industry publication
- 3
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
- 2
- primary-company-ir
- Company IR disclosure
- 2
- primary-sec-filing
- SEC filing
- 1
- secondary-established-publication
- Established publication
- 1
- secondary-trade-publication
- Trade publication
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Kodiak AI.Peer companies
- Tesla4 models
- Aurora Innovation3 models
- Waymo3 models
- Caterpillar2 models
- Caterpillar Mining2 models
- Embark Trucks2 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Kodiak AI from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Kodiak AI Delivers First Customer-Owned Driverless RoboTrucks to Atlas
Kodiak AI and Atlas Energy Solutions achieved a historic milestone with the first-ever customer-owned autonomous RoboTruck fleet completing 100 deliveries in the Permian Basin.
Kodiak and Roehl Transport Launch Autonomous Route Between Dallas and Houston
Kodiak AI began autonomous freight operations for Roehl Transport on a Dallas-Houston route with four round trips per week, progressing toward driverless operations by end of 2026.
Kodiak AI Pushes Driverless Trucks Onto Ohio I-70 Corridor
Kodiak AI completed autonomous truck deployment in Ohio along Interstate 70 in partnership with DriveOhio, marking its first operational deployment outside the Sunbelt. Kodiak…
Kodiak Awarded U.S. Marine Corps Autonomous Vehicle Contract
The U.S. Marine Corps awarded Kodiak AI a contract to integrate the Kodiak Driver into the ROGUE-Fires carrier ground vehicle for autonomous military operations.
Kodiak sets sights on next phase of growth after showing revenue
Kodiak AI expects to fully deploy its autonomous technology in the long-haul trucking sector. Partners include JB Hunt, C.R. England, and Atlas Energy Solutions.
Kodiak AI and Bosch Partner to Scale Autonomous Trucking Hardware
Kodiak announced a strategic agreement with Bosch to scale its autonomous trucking hardware and sensor solution for production deployment.
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/kodiak.md
- RSS feed: /companies/kodiak/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/e657f740-aaeb-4dd1-97b4-cfc9982e625f
- Revision history: /companies/kodiak/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Peer companies
- Tesla4 models
- Aurora Innovation3 models
- Waymo3 models
- Caterpillar2 models
- Caterpillar Mining2 models
- Embark Trucks2 models
Reality vs attention
Kodiak AI draws attention at the 44th percentile but verifies reality at the 86th percentile among truck robots. Hype Gap -42.5, 25th widest among truck robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Clean safety record across 6 verified deployments. Well-capitalized with $265M raised and recent funding activity. Limited public visibility and press coverage relative to peers.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Jul 14, 2026