Why autonomous driving will come to logistics before it comes to cars

While most autonomous driving headlines are about inner-city robotaxis, more and more companies in the field are focusing their attention on road freight instead. That is still several years ahead of more general, level 5 autonomous vehicles. To address this, Kodiak plans to establish ‘truck ports’, where the trailers can be swapped between autonomous trucks and human-driven ones. As part of its testing programme, the company is transporting real freight for customers using its 10-strong fleet of trucks. It recently agreed a partnership with SK – the conglomerate that includes one of the world’s major EV battery suppliers – to investigate supply chains there and find business opportunity for autonomous technology.