Kodiak Robotics Introduces Next-Gen Autonomous Truck
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Kodiak Robotics has unveiled its fourth-generation autonomous truck, which is set to hit the roads during the fourth quarter.
The truck has a modular three-position sensor suite, with a center pod on the front roof line along with pods integrated into the side mirrors. The new setup is intended to simplify sensor installation and maintenance while increasing safety, the company said.
“Complex and bulky systems that require an engineer to hand-build and hand-tune are expensive, unreliable and difficult to debug,” Kodiak founder Don Burnette said in a statement. “We believe that reliability and scalability flow from simplicity, and the best hardware modifications should be barely visible.”
Learn how @KodiakRobotics is using NVIDIA DRIVE Orin to develop self-driving trucks that are quick on their fleet: https://t.co/ady1oK4gZ6 pic.twitter.com/XrjBudPYQ1 — NVIDIA DRIVE (@NVIDIADRIVE) September 28, 2021
Burnette added the fourth-generation platform is designed for easy calibration, troubleshooting and maintenance for simple and scaled production. It was designed with fleet uptime, manufacturing and serviceability in mind.
The truck will feature Luminar’s Iris lidar, ZF full-range radar, Hesai 360-degree scanning lidar for side- and rear-view detection, Cummins X15TM Series engines, Bridgestone Americas smart-sensing tire technology and the Nvidia Drive platform.
The Kodiak Vision system fuses data from various sensors on the truck and considers the relative strengths and weaknesses of each type. This is intended to add another layer of safety to the self-driving system by incorporating extra redundancies and cross-validation data, the company said. — Transport Topics
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