Trucks are now hauling frac sand in Texas with ‘no one inside the cab’
Autonomous truck technology company Kodiak Robotics Inc. announced the completion of their “first driverless delivery of frac sand in West Texas’s Permian Basin.”
On Tuesday, Kodiak announced a partnership with Atlas Energy Solutions Inc. to deploy driverless commercial vehicle technology in the Texas oilfields.
The companies say that they’ve already completed their first driverless delivery of frac sand in the Permian Basin.
“The 21-mile delivery transported Atlas’s high-quality frac sand from an Atlas depot to a wellsite with no one inside the cab,” the companies said in a press release.
As part of the agreement, Atlas will fully launch commercial operations early next year with two trucks owned by Atlas and equipped with Kodiak Driver, an autonomous driving system.
“The hot and dry climate in the Permian Basin makes it one of the world’s most challenging environments for truck drivers. The Kodiak Driver is well equipped to handle driving through harsh conditions, including dust storms that impact visibility and extreme heat,” the companies said.
“The Permian Basin’s expansive private lease road network, which expands across the Delaware and Midland Basins, is an ideal environment in which to introduce autonomous trucking in North America,” said Chris Scholla, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Atlas. “With average traffic speeds of under 20 MPH on these large swaths of private roads, we can safely deliver a more reliable last-mile solution to our customers in the Permian Basin. This truly represents a step-change in oilfield logistics.”
“Deploying driverless trucks with Atlas marks the beginning of a new era for autonomous vehicles,” said Don Burnette, Founder & CEO, Kodiak. “Our partnership with Atlas will make us the first autonomous semi-truck company to establish commercial driverless operations, and the first company to make autonomous trucking a real business. We look forward to scaling our trucking product not only in the Permian Basin, but also over-the-road.”