Kodiak Robotics and Roush Industries partner for driverless trucks serving industrial logistics

Kodiak Robotics, a key player in AI-powered autonomous vehicle technology, has announced a new partnership with Roush Industries to scale the upfitting of driverless trucks equipped with Kodiak’s advanced autonomous driving system, known as the Kodiak Driver. This collaboration may see Roush, a well-established product development supplier with expertise in mobility and other industries, undertake the retrofit of these autonomous trucks at its Livonia, Michigan facility starting in the second half of 2025, according to their press release. The initial trucks to be upfitted are set to serve Kodiak’s strategic customer, Atlas Energy Solutions, as part of an ongoing expansion of their autonomous operations which began in December 2024.

The alliance builds on Kodiak’s work deploying truck automation within industrial logistics. According to Kodiak, Roush has committed to opening a production line for scaled uplifting of trucks equipped with the Kodiak Driver’s modular and vehicle-agnostic hardware, including proprietary technology, AI compute, Actuator Control Engine safety compute, and redundant actuation elements. 

Roush has also committed to design, develop, and implement a flexible manufacturing process that can rapidly scale as Koodiak increases its upfit of Kodiak Driver-powered trucks to meet customer demand. 

Brad Rzettelny, VP Contract Manufacturing at Roush, said in the press release, “Kodiak’s autonomous trucking technology is an exciting advancement in the mobility industry. Together we’re working to build a robust and repeatable manufacturing process that supports Kodiak’s transition from limited production to full-scale deployment. Kodiak’s technology and engineering rigor set a high bar, and we believe we are uniquely positioned to meet that bar at scale.”

Roush brings nearly 50 years of mobility industry experience to the partnership, with expertise in upfitting and delivering complex vehicles, including autonomous vehicles for multiple developers. 

According to Kodiak’s CEO and founder Don Burnette, “Roush’s deep experience upfitting autonomous vehicles makes them an ideal production partner for Kodiak. We believe that Roush’s strong quality management processes will ensure our customers’ Kodiak Driver-powered trucks will be built to exacting standards, while giving us the manufacturing flexibility to support a wide range of vehicle configurations, including different vehicle and cab types, axle setups, and heavy-duty applications to meet the diverse demands of the trucking industry”.

According to information published by Kodiak, in December 2024 it became the first publicly announced company to deliver driverless semi-trucks to a customer.

This ongoing partnership between Kodiak and Roush underscores a broader commitment to innovation in industrial mobility, blending advanced autonomous technology with scalable engineering practices. As Kodiak continues to commercialize and expand their autonomous trucking operations, this latest manufacturing alliance with Roush adds an essential layer of operational scalability, supporting their broader adoption of autonomous vehicles in logistics and related sectors.