Kodiak AI said it anticipates launching long-haul driverless operations in the second half of 2026. The projection came as part of the autonomous-truck-technology company’s third-quarter results announcement. 

“Our first quarter as a public company marks an exciting milestone for Kodiak,” said Don Burnette, founder and CEO of Kodiak. 

Kodiak successfully closed its business combination with Ares Acquisition Corporation II and began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “KDK” in September.

“We are incredibly proud of our accomplishments during the quarter as we delivered strong operational and financial results, Burnette said in a release. “We are generating revenue and scaling our business.”

During the quarter, the company achieved key milestones on its path to delivering its AI-powered autonomous technology, the Kodiak Driver, at scale, according to a news release.

By the end of the third quarter, the company deployed the Kodiak Driver in 10 fully driverless trucks, which Burnette said was a 100% increase from the second quarter.

“We remain on track to deploy our initial commitment of 100 driverless trucks to Atlas Energy Solutions,” he said.

“We have also made meaningful progress toward closing our long-haul safety case, and anticipate launching long-haul driverless operations in the second half of 2026.”

Kodiak Third Quarter Highlights:

• Deployed five additional Kodiak Driver-powered trucks to Atlas Energy Solutions, which now has a fleet of 10 fully driverless trucks in operation. This represents a 100% increase from the second quarter.

• Accumulated a total of over 5,200 cumulative hours of paid driverless operations through the third quarter, representing a 166% increase from the end of the second quarter.

• As of the end of the third quarter, the Kodiak Driver has driven over 3 million autonomous miles and delivered over 10,000 loads for customers.

• Announced Kodiak’s long-haul autonomous trucks achieved the top score in an independent safety evaluation by Nauto, a leader in AI-powered fleet safety technology.

• Was granted a regulatory waiver to use “warning beacons” in place of physical warning triangles behind disabled trucks.

• Introduced numerous new product features, including a new generative AI-based system to identify and address novel, complex edge case scenarios.

• Commenced hauling double trailers in the industrial vertical.

• Announced manufacturing partner Roush Industries completed production of its first driverless-ready truck, enhancing Kodiak’s ability to scale deployment of driverless trucks to customers.

• Announced the integration of NXP ISO 26262-compliant processors and interface solutions into the computer architecture that powers the Kodiak Driver to improve vehicle uptime.

• Expanded a partnership with ZF to supply 100 advanced steering systems with redundant components for integration into Kodiak Driver-powered trucks.

The company ended Q3 with $146.2 million in cash and cash equivalents, including the proceeds raised as part of the business combination with Ares Acquisition Corporation II, net of transaction fees and expenses.

“We are focused on growing our Driver-as-a-Service revenue with our long-haul, industrial, and defense customers to build a durable, recurring, high-margin business,” said Surajit Datta, Kodiak chief financial officer, in a news release.

“At the same time, we continue to invest prudently in technology, safety, and commercial readiness. By maintaining a capital-efficient and asset-light model, we are positioning Kodiak to scale efficiently, achieve profitability and positive free cash flow in the future, and deliver sustainable value for our shareholders.”

Kodiak isn't the only autonomous-truck company to go public this year. In June, Plus AI announced it was going public via a merger with Churchill Capital Corp.