40,000 driverless hours and counting: Kodiak expands Atlas Energy partnership Key takeaways - Kodiak will scale the autonomous fleet operated by Atlas Energy Solutions from 35 trucks running 24/7 without a driver in the cab to 100 trucks in mid-2027. - Autonomous developers nationwide continue scaling commercial deployments. - Michael Wiesinger, COO of Kodiak AI, explains how autonomous technology is transitioning to commercial deployments. Michael Wiesinger, COO of Kodiak AI, joins The Fleet Lead to explain how autonomous trucks continue moving into commercial deployments. Kodiak and one of its partners, Atlas Energy Solutions, already scaled Atlas’s fully autonomous fleet to 35 trucks running 24/7 without a driver in the cab—and the companies plan to scale that fleet to 100 trucks in 2027. Here is Michael's breakdown on customer-owned autonomous fleets; Kodiak's integration with upfitter Roush; the company’s expansions across industry, military, and over-the-road hauls; and insights into how autonomous tech is changing fleet economics. Here's the interview transcript as an edited Q&A: To set the groundwork for anyone who's never heard of Kodiak, what does the company do? Michael Wiesinger, COO of Kodiak AI: Kodiak AI is one of the leading autonomous trucking developers, meaning we develop technology that allows a truck to drive itself. We do that in three different segments: long haul and automotive trucking, the industrial segment, defense, and public sector. Kodiak said it's expanding its partnership with a company named Atlas Energy. What's going on there? Wiesinger: We have worked with Atlas Energy Solutions for quite a long time. Basically, in December 2024, we deployed the first fully driverless trucks to Atlas Energy Solutions. Now, one thing that's very special there: This is the first publicly known commercial deployment where the fleet operator owns and operates those trucks. So it's really Atlas: They own the trucks,