Kodiak And Vayu Are Set To Transform Autonomous Mobility

The last few years have seen major advancements being made in autonomous mobility.

From driverless taxis to researchers building the smallest and lightest drone, the technology is powering applications in various sectors spanning transportation, surveillance, agriculture, research and logistics among others.

Logistics is one arena where autonomous mobility companies Kodiak Robotics and Vayu Robotics look to shine with their latest products, which are set to revolutionize the autonomous mobility industry.

So, let’s explore what Kodiak and Vayu are bringing into the driverless vehicles sphere!
 

What Is Kodiak Robotics’ Driverless Semi-Trucks About?

 

• Through a news release published on its website, Kodiak Robotics announced that it has made its first delivery of driverless semi-trucks to Atlas Energy Solutions Inc.

• Atlas Energy is the leading provider of proppant and proppant logistics in West Texas’s Permian Basin, an area that is prone to accidents.

• According to the Texas Department of Transportation, in 2021 the Permian Basin accounted for 7% of all traffic fatalities in Texas, despite making up less than 2% of Texas’s population.

• Furthermore, with low rainfall and usual hot and dry climatic conditions, the Permian Basin dirt roads can quickly kick up dust storms, making the area one of the world’s most challenging environments for truckers.

• As a result, this makes it hard to recruit and retain drivers; a condition that serves well for autonomous mobility and for Kodiak to deploy its driverless operations.

• The roads Kodiak’s driverless trucks will operate on are low traffic, less pedestrians and driving speeds that average 20 miles per hour, making it a conducive environment for Kodiak to test its driverless trucks.

• This works well for Atlas Energy, a company that holds automation close to the core of its business, too. The company is close to completing its Dune Express, a 42-mile long, fully electric conveyor system that will help haul sand closer to where it’s needed.

• Kodiak has been developing its product over the last six years and in 2022, the company announced it was working on a project for the US Army, which would see it develop its Kodiak Driver for defense applications.

• This was where the company began developing vehicles “for off-road and unstructured environments.”

 

What Did Kodiak’s Founder And CEO Say?

 

• Through the release, Don Burnette, Founder and CEO, Kodiak Robotics, said, “Over the past six years, we’ve focused on how to turn technology into a product. The best teacher has been our daily operations across the Southern half of the US.”

• “By deploying the Kodiak Driver in the real world, we’ve developed tremendous insight into how our customers can best deploy our product, as well as what it takes to operate and maintain an autonomous fleet in the real world.

• “Partnering with Atlas will allow us to further enhance our expertise operating a driverless fleet and demonstrate the safety of our driverless technology as we prepare for on-road operations.”

• “This will therefore accelerate our efforts to scale the Kodiak Driver into a product that meets the needs of all of our customers.”

On the other hand, Vayu Robotics’ autonomous vehicle is working in contrasting conditions.
 

What Is Vayu Robotics’ Autonomous Delivery Robot About?

 

• Through a news release published on its website, Vayu Robotics announced it debuted the world’s first on-road delivery robot powered by an AI robotics foundation model.

• The move comes as the company looks to slash the cost of e-commerce deliveries, where the reliance on deliveries is increasing and the cost per delivery remains high.

• Ordinarily, delivery robots rely on costly lidar sensors and software that can perform one task at a time, however, Vayu’s robot is the opposite.

• Its robot, called Vayu One, uses a transformer-based mobility foundation model and a powerful sensor that does away with the need for lidar sensors.

• This means that the robot doesn’t need to pre-map roads it operates on and is capable of “navigating inside stores, on city streets and unloading packages on driveways or porches.”

• The Vayu One can carry up to 100 pounds of cargo travelling at speeds under 20 miles per hour.

• This first-of-its-kind delivery robot offers the most cost-effective, safe and reliable delivery system on the market.

• The company already has a commercial agreement in place with a large e-commerce company to deploy 2,500 robots enabling ultra-fast goods delivery.

• In addition to another similar agreement in the works, the company is also working with a leading global robotics manufacturer to replace their lidar sensors with Vayu’s technology.

 

What Did Vayu’s CEO Say?

 

• Anand Gopalan, the CEO of Vayu Robotics, said, “The unique set of technologies we have developed at Vayu have allowed us to solve problems that have plagued delivery robots over the past decade, and finally create a solution that can actually be deployed at scale and enable the cheap transport of goods everywhere.”

• “Our software is robot form factor agnostic and we have already deployed it across several wheeled form factors.”

• “In the near future, Vayu's software technology will enable the movement of quadrupedal and bipedal robots, allowing us to expand into those markets as well.”

Do you think these pioneering moves by Kodiak and Vayu Robotics will help the companies attain a commanding position in the autonomous mobility market for logistics? Do you think the companies' competitors should make similar moves?

Let us know in the comments below!