IKEA partners with Kodiak Robotics for self-driving deliveries in Texas

IKEA furniture retail company has teamed up with Kodiak Robotics, a self-driving truck startup, to launch the pilot program for autonomous deliveries in the state of Texas. With the start of the scheme, a semi-truck with the robotics firm’s self-driving system has started delivering items from the warehouse around Houston to a store near Dallas.

The distance between the warehouse and the store was said to be around 300 miles. The trucks with the Kodiak Robotics system are now making deliveries every day.

As per CNBC, while the trucks are self-driving and being completely controlled by Kodiak’s system, they still have human safety drivers on board. The company’s chief executive officer, Don Burnette, clarified that they may be making autonomous-driving trucks, but this does not mean that truck drivers will be out of business soon. He said that the system is only aiming to make their work a lot easier.

This is not Kodiak’s first foray into the self-driving business since it has been operating freight in Texas using its own autonomous test trucks, and this has been going on since 2019. Recently, the company also opened a new route for its trucks to traverse between Dallas and Oklahoma City.

Aside from IKEA, the robotics and tech firm also carried out similar pilot tests with other companies, such as Werner Enterprises logistics firm and U.S. Xpress. The trucks for this test took the routes from Dallas to Lake City in Florida and Atlanta.

"IKEA and Kodiak share a commitment to putting safety first. Together we can enhance safety, improve working conditions for drivers, and create a more sustainable freight transportation system,” The Kodiak Robotics founder and CEO said in a press release. "Adopting autonomous trucking technology can improve drivers' quality of life by focusing on the local driving jobs most prefer to do. We look forward to working with the IKEA carrier partners to bring these benefits to the IKEA supply chain."

Dariusz Mroczek, IKEA’s supply chain operations category area transport manager, further said that they are proud to be working with Kodiak, and through the partnership, it aims to meet its goals of “being at the forefront of innovation and building capabilities for future transportation."