Kodiak AI将从2028年起向货运公司DTL Transport交付75辆自动驾驶卡车。这是该公司首份针对将在公共高速公路上行驶的无人大型卡车的具有约束力的商业协议。
Kodiak AI will deliver 75 self-driving trucks to freight company DTL Transport starting in 2028. It’s the company’s first binding commercial deal for driverless big rigs that will run on public highways.
该合同周三宣布，正值Kodiak即将迎来下一个重大里程碑：从驾驶室中撤出人类安全操作员，于12月开始运营无人高速公路服务。该公司于2025年9月上市，计划通过在达拉斯和休斯顿之间的45号州际公路上为宜家运输货物来推出该服务。
The contract, announced Wednesday, comes just ahead of Kodiak’s next big milestone: pulling human safety operators out of the cab to begin operating a driverless highway service in December. The company, which went public in September 2025, plans to launch that service by carrying goods for Ikea on Interstate 45 between Dallas and Houston.
DTL Transport是一家加州中型卡车公司，负责将新鲜农产品和货物运送到杂货连锁店，计划在多条州际公路线路上使用自动驾驶卡车，起步线路为达拉斯至德克萨斯州埃尔帕索，以及达拉斯至亚特兰大之间的20号州际公路。Kodiak已在这两条线路上进行过测试和运营。
DTL Transport, a California mid-market trucking company that hauls fresh produce and goods to grocery chains, plans to use the self-driving trucks on multiple interstate highway routes, starting with Dallas to El Paso, Texas, and Interstate 20 between Dallas and Atlanta. Kodiak has already conducted testing and operations on those two routes.
“我们喜欢中型承运商（如DTL）的一点是，它们能够以快速的执行速度行动，速度更接近初创公司、小公司或像Kodiak这样的科技公司，而且它们只想把事情做成，”Kodiak创始人兼首席执行官唐·伯内特在接受TechCrunch独家采访时表示。“由于它们规模不大，将其整合进车队更容易，我们认为这对自动驾驶行业整体来说是一个真正的转折点。”
“One of the things that we love about mid-market carriers (like DTL) is that they are able to move with fast execution speed, much more at the speed of a startup or a small company or a tech company like Kodiak, and that they just want to get stuff done,” Kodiak founder and CEO Don Burnette told TechCrunch in an exclusive interview. “It’s easier for them to integrate into their fleet because they’re not as large, and we think that this is a real turning point for the self-driving industry in general.”
该合同应能为Kodiak带来收入提升和积极的基准。其股价已从首日开盘价下跌87%。这也使Kodiak踏上成为“轻资产”技术供应商的道路，即出售其技术而非自有和运营卡车——这是它与竞争对手Aurora Innovation共享的目标。
The contract should give Kodiak a revenue boost and a positive benchmark. Its shares have fallen 87% from their opening-day price. It also puts Kodiak on a path to become an “asset-light” technology supplier, meaning it would sell its technology rather than own and run trucks itself — a goal it shares with competitor Aurora Innovation.
如今，Kodiak在“卡车运输即服务”（TaaS）模式下拥有多家客户，包括Charger USA、Roehl Transport和Werner Enterprises。在这一商业模式下，Kodiak作为第三方承运商，代表其他公司拥有并运营自动驾驶卡车。目前，它在得克萨斯州的几条线路上为这些公司运输货物。Kodiak通过每天在三条活跃线路上为这些公司运输货物来创造收入，但伯内特称这些业务仍处于试点阶段。
Today, Kodiak has a number of customers under a Trucking-as-a-Service (TaaS) model, including Charger USA, Roehl Transport, and Werner Enterprises. Under this business model, Kodiak owns and operates the self-driving trucks as a third-party carrier on behalf of other companies. It currently carries freight for these companies on a few routes in Texas. Kodiak generates revenue carrying freight daily for these companies on three active routes, but Burnette described these operations as still being in pilot stage.
最终，Kodiak希望转向“司机即服务”（DaaS）模式，即由客户拥有并运营卡车。Kodiak授权其技术，并在合同期内按英里向客户收费。DTL是Kodiak在公路场景下的首个DaaS客户，这一合作关系是在上个月于加利福尼亚州开展的一个试点项目中建立的。在该试点中，Kodiak在加利福尼亚州弗雷斯诺与洛杉矶之间，沿5号州际公路和加利福尼亚州99号州道自动驾驶运输DTL的易腐货物，行程约225英里，驾驶座上配有一名人类安全操作员。
Ultimately, Kodiak wants to move to a Driver-as-a-Service (DaaS) model, in which customers own and operate the trucks. Kodiak licenses its technology, charging customers by the mile for the duration of the contract. DTL is Kodiak’s first on-highway DaaS customer, a relationship that was forged during a pilot program last month in California. In that pilot, Kodiak autonomously hauled perishable goods for DTL about 225 miles along Interstate 5 and California State Route 99 between Fresno, California, and Los Angeles, with a human safety operator behind the wheel.
“你必须先用自己的卡车验证这项技术，向他们证明它可行、证明它安全、证明它能够集成，”伯内特在描述“卡车运输即服务”模式时说。“然后我们希望做到轻资产。我们不想经营一家卡车运输公司。”Atlas Energy Solutions自2024年以来一直是“司机即服务”客户。严格来说，Atlas是Kodiak在具有约束力的商业合同下的首个客户，但其无人驾驶卡车在得克萨斯州西部偏远的二叠纪盆地的非公路环境中运营。
“You have to prove out the technology first using your own truck, show them that it works, show them that it’s safe, show them that it integrates,” Burnette said, describing the Trucking-as-a-Service model. “And then we want to be asset light. We don’t want to be in the business of running a trucking company.”Atlas Energy Solutions has been a Driver-as-a-Service customer since 2024. Technically, Atlas was Kodiak’s first customer under a binding commercial contract, but its driverless trucks operate in off-road settings in West Texas’ remote Permian Basin.
Atlas目前拥有并运营35辆配备Kodiak自动驾驶系统的无人驾驶卡车。伯内特表示，Kodiak有望在2027年中期之前在当地投入多达100辆此类卡车运营。
Atlas currently owns and operates 35 driverless trucks equipped with Kodiak’s self-driving system. Burnette said Kodiak is on track to have as many as 100 in service there by mid-2027.
Kodiak没有透露与DTL Transport这笔交易的价值。不过，其公开的2025年投资者介绍材料为这份合同的潜在价值提供了一些线索。
Kodiak didn’t reveal the value of the deal with DTL Transport. However, its public 2025 investor presentation offers some clues about the contract’s potential value.
在该文件中，Kodiak预测每辆卡车的年度经常性收入为15万至19万美元。这一预测基于多项假设，包括每英里约0.97美元的许可费（与当前人类司机的每英里成本相当）、每辆卡车每年约22.5万英里的年行驶里程，以及其他因素。
In that document, Kodiak forecast annual recurring revenue of $150,000 to $190,000 per truck. That forecast rests on several assumptions, including a per-mile licensing fee of about $0.97 (in line with current human driver costs per mile), annual mileage of about 225,000 miles a year per truck, and other factors.
假设这些预测能够实现，一旦全部75辆卡车交付，与DTL Transport的这笔交易每年可产生至少约1120万美元的经常性收入。
Assuming those projections bear out, the deal with DTL Transport could generate at least about $11.2 million in annual recurring revenue once all 75 trucks are delivered.