J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. announced a major autonomous trucking milestone in partnership with self-driving truck tech company Kodiak Robotics, Inc. and tire maker Bridgestone.
On August 7, the companies announced that J.B. Hunt surpassed 50,000 autonomous long-haul trucking miles, using Kodiak technology to haul Bridgestone passenger car tires between South Carolina and Dallas.
Since the Bridgestone route kicked off in January 2024, the companies say that the “autonomous route has been driven with no accidents and achieved 100% on-time pick-up and delivery.”
J.B. Hunt provided details on how the weekly trip is structured to curb empty miles:
- J.B. Hunt moves the load from Bridgestone’s Aiken Passenger Tire plant in Graniteville, South Carolina, to Kodiak’s Atlanta-area autonomous truckport in Villa Rica, Georgia.
- Kodiak autonomous trucks complete the long-haul stretch of the route from Atlanta to Kodiak’s Lancaster, Texas facility. A two-person-team of Kodiak safety drivers oversee the seamless and continuous operation of the autonomous truck.
- J.B. Hunt transports the load approximately 50 miles from Lancaster to Bridgestone’s Roanoke distribution center.
- For the trip from Dallas to Atlanta, J.B. Hunt leverages its J.B. Hunt 360box program to identify additional customers with live and drop freight needs along that route. Kodiak completes the delivery autonomously to Atlanta, and then J.B. Hunt transports the load to its next destination.
“Working closely with Kodiak and Bridgestone, we were able to deliver a complementary solution that integrates autonomous technology with day-to-day operations while also solving backhaul challenges,” said Nick Hobbs, chief operating officer and president of contract services at J.B. Hunt. “It’s a great example of how our mode-neutral approach can leverage multiple service offerings to produce efficient, value-driven solutions unique to our customers’ needs.”
“Our ability to build an autonomous delivery program with J.B. Hunt, one of America’s best-respected and most innovative trucking fleets, and Bridgestone, a longstanding Kodiak investor and a leader in transportation technology, makes this a perfect collaboration,” said Don Burnette, Founder & CEO, Kodiak. “Demonstrating the efficacy of our middle mile model and improving operational efficiencies for our customers sets us all on a course for rapid and sustainable growth.”
Bridgestone is Kodiak’s exclusive tire provider, and the companies have been in partnership since 2021.
