Bosch, Kodiak Partner to Scale Self-Driving Trucks
Platform Unveiled at CES Will Include Cameras and Radar Sensors, and Integrate Advanced Steering Technologies
Key Takeaways:
- Kodiak a partnership with Bosch to build a production-ready platform designed specifically for fully autonomous Class 8 trucks.
- The partnership, announced during the annual CES trade show, is aimed at accelerating Kodiak’s ability to scale its self-driving technology.
- Neither Bosch nor Kodiak has publicly disclosed when the technology will be available.
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LAS VEGAS — Automated truck developer Kodiak announced a partnership with equipment and technology company Bosch to build a production-ready, redundant platform designed specifically for fully autonomous Class 8 trucks.
The partnership, announced during the annual CES trade show, is aimed at accelerating Kodiak’s ability to scale its self-driving technology. “How do you move from five trucks to 10 trucks to 100 trucks into the thousands, tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands? For that, we need great, powerful, established, experienced partners,” said Don Burnette, CEO of Kodiak.
The platform will combine hardware, firmware and software needed for fully autonomous trucking at scale. It will include cameras and radar sensors, and integrate advanced steering technologies.
Neither Bosch nor Kodiak has publicly disclosed when the technology will be available. “This is the start of our journey with Bosch,” Burnette said. Paul Thomas, president of Bosch North America, added that the partnership “offers us a great opportunity to deepen our understanding of real-world autonomous vehicle requirements, while at the same time enhancing our portfolio for the broader autonomous mobility.”
Don Burnette says, “This is the start of our journey with Bosch.” (Steve Fecht)
The deal is the latest in a string of partnerships Kodiak has announced that includes deals with component and automotive technology supplier ZF, Nvidia and Roush Industries. “It’s been a little bit of a hodgepodge of partnerships up until this point,” Burnette told a group of journalists. “Bringing this all under one roof from an established player like Bosch really gets us to the next level, and we’re going to be working over the next several years to bring that package to the market.”
In 2025, Kodiak deployed 10 driverless vehicles in closed-site applications with Atlas Energy Solutions in the Permian Basin. It plans to scale to 100 trucks this year. Burnette noted that deploying fully driverless trucks in this type of industrial environment helps Kodiak refine its technology and learn from the daily realities of integrating autonomous technology into live operations.
“It’s one thing to strike a deal. … It’s a completely different problem to show up with an autonomous operation at the operation side, with people who have never experienced this technology before, and they’re like, ‘What do I do with this?’ ” he said.
Kodiak plans to apply what it’s learning with Atlas to a refocused effort for on-highway longhaul applications. “The learnings really are at the endpoints,” Burnette said. “How do you queue? How do you deal with the yards? The reason we went hub-to-hub is because everything can be perfectly controlled. The problem is the real world doesn’t work that way.”
Scaling Physical AI takes more than software.
Kodiak is collaborating with to bring production-grade autonomous platforms to scale. See a Kodiak
Driver-powered truck at CES 2026. — Kodiak AI (@KodiakRobotics)
Kodiak currently operates 15 trucks in on-highway applications with a human safety observer present in the cab. Burnette said the company plans to remove the safety observers in the second half of 2026. “It really isn’t until you totally pulled the driver and there’s nobody in the cab that you get the full experience of what it’s going to be like, from a carrier perspective, to operate a driverless vehicle,” he said.
In preparation for that day, Kodiak has developed an in-house remote operations system that allows workers to monitor trucks, manage loading and unloading, respond when the automated system needs guidance, and pilot vehicles at low speeds for repositioning.
Johan Land of Samsara explores how fleets are adopting AI to revolutionize their safety programs.Tune in above or by going to .
Burnette stressed that Kodiak’s safety case does not require one-to-one human monitoring. “That’s a question that should be asked to all autonomy companies,” he said.
Burnette believes autonomous trucks can at least double asset utilization, with some trucks potentially running more than 20 hours a day. Over time, he projects that autonomous operations could offer premium, expedited services for moving goods quickly and efficiently. “If you believe the vision that folks like me espouse, then it’s absolutely premium service,” Burnette said. “In practice, in the early days, it’s a clunky service.
Burnette also stressed the “steep learning curve” involved in developing autonomous technology, and credited Kodiak’s fleet partners to help move the technology forward. “We have great partners like J.B. Hunt, Werner Enterprises, C.R. England and others that we’ve worked with on a daily basis for several years now to … help us learn their needs but also train them on using the autonomy system,” he said.
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