Oct. 18 (UPI) — IKEA has partnered with Kodiak Robotics to integrate self-driving trucks into its supply chain operations in Texas, the autonomous vehicle company announced Tuesday.
“We are proud to be working with Kodiak to achieve our ambitious goals of being at the forefront of innovation and building capabilities for future transportation,” Dariusz Mroczek, a transport manager for IKEA, said in a news release.
In the partnership, which began Aug. 8, a Kodiak autonomous heavy-duty truck transports inventory about 300 miles from the IKEA distribution center in Baytown, Texas to the IKEA store in Frisco, Texas.
The trucks complete their routes using the autonomous-driving system but always have a human safety driver on board.
“Together we can enhance safety, improve working conditions for drivers and create a more sustainable freight transportation system,” Don Burnette, Kodiak’s founder and CEO, said in the release.
Texas is a testing ground for autonomous vehicles due to favorable rules and large stretches of open road. The self-driving truck companies Aurora Innovation and Waymo, a subsidiary of Google‘s parent company Alphabet, have also been testing self-driving vehicles in Texas.
In addition to working with IKEA, Kodiak Robotics has been using self-driving trucks to complete test deliveries for logistics companies Werner Enterprises and U.S. Xpress.
