Kodiak's Autonomous Trucks Transport Bridgestone Passenger Tires Between South Carolina and Dallas Since January
# Kodiak, J.B. Hunt Transport Services and Bridgestone Americas Achieve 50,000 Autonomous Truck-Miles Milestone
By Jeff Berman August 7, 2024
Three well-known companies spanning different vertical markets announced today a significant milestone in autonomous trucking.
These companies—J.B. Hunt Transport Services, headquartered in Lowell, Arkansas, a subsidiary of J.B. Hunt, the transportation and intermodal services giant based in Lowell; Bridgestone Americas, headquartered in Nashville, a global leader in premium tires and sustainable mobility solutions; and Kodiak Robotics Inc., an autonomous trucking company based in Valley, California—stated that their weekly freight collaboration has officially surpassed 50,000 miles of autonomous long-haul trucking.
According to the companies, this partnership began in January, with Kodiak’s autonomous trucks transporting Bridgestone’s passenger tires from South Carolina to Dallas. During this period, there were no accidents and a 100% on-time pickup and delivery rate was achieved. Additionally, the three companies are expanding the number of weekly shipments along this route.
Regarding the specifics of their collaboration, these companies explained that through Kodiak’s hub-to-hub autonomous transportation model, long-distance transport from Atlanta to Dallas—approximately 750 miles and taking around 16 hours—is completed using Kodiak’s autonomous technology equipped with Bridgestone’s M719 drive tires and R213 steer tires. J.B. Hunt is responsible for transporting the trailers from Bridgestone’s facilities to Kodiak’s hub, and ensuring return transportation capacity through its network of over 14,000 company-owned trailers via J.B. Hunt 360box to prevent empty miles and improve route efficiency.
To describe how they collaborate in delivering Bridgestone tires while minimizing empty miles, the companies listed the following steps:
This collaboration provides a round-trip solution for delivering Bridgestone passenger tires and minimizing empty miles:
– J.B. Hunt transports cargo from the Bridgestone Aiken Passenger Tire Plant in Graniteville, South Carolina to Kodiak’s Atlanta region autonomous truck hub in Villa Rica, Georgia;
– Kodiak’s autonomous trucks complete the long-haul transport from Atlanta to Lancaster, Texas. A two-person Kodiak safety driver team oversees the seamless continuous operation of the autonomous trucks;
– J.B. Hunt transports cargo approximately 50 miles from Lancaster to Bridgestone’s Roanoke distribution center;
– On the return trip from Dallas to Atlanta, J.B. Hunt leverages its J.B. Hunt 360box project to identify other customers with real-time and unloading needs along the route. Kodiak automatically delivers cargo to Atlanta, then J.B. Hunt transports it to the next destination.
This collaboration dates back to June 2021 when Bridgestone announced an investment in Kodiak and established a partnership. A key part of this partnership involves integrating Bridgestone’s smart-sensing tire technology into Kodiak’s autonomous trucks, further enhancing vehicle intelligence for safer, more efficient, and sustainable mobility.
“By working closely with Kodiak and Bridgestone, we can offer an integrated solution that combines autonomous technology with daily operations while addressing the challenge of backhauls,” J.B. Hunt COO and President of Contract Services Nick Hobbs said in a statement. “This is a great example of how our neutral model approach leverages multiple services to provide efficient, value-driven solutions tailored to customer needs.”
Brad Blizzard, Vice President of Logistics Operations and Product Delivery at Bridgestone, noted that as part of the company’s development into a global leader in sustainable mobility solutions, Bridgestone’s collaboration with Kodiak and J.B. Hunt demonstrates that autonomous long-haul transportation is not just a dream.
“It’s happening,” he said, “and we are excited to expand our routes, grow this partnership, and invest in the future of mobility.”
In an interview with Logistics Management, Michael Wiesinger, Vice President of Commercialization and General Manager of Transportation at Kodiak, stated that the key driver behind this collaboration was Bridgestone’s desire to integrate autonomous transportation into its supply chain and be part of the future revolution in autonomous transport. This led them to reach out to J.B. Hunt, who then connected with Kodiak to launch the project.
“We jointly designed this transportation solution and proposed it to Bridgestone, who were very excited about integrating it into J.B. Hunt’s operations,” he said. “We launched this project in January.”
Prior to this collaboration, Wiesinger noted that Kodiak had conducted several autonomous truck pilot projects including: Dallas to Houston; Dallas to Oklahoma City; and Dallas to Houston.
“When you consider autonomous trucks, the longer the journey, the greater the benefit because finding drivers, particularly long-haul truck drivers, is very difficult,” he explained. “Drivers need to stay on the road for weeks at a time. That’s our focus. The run from Dallas to Houston is simpler with safety drivers as they can return home on the same day. The trip from Dallas to Atlanta is slightly more complex due to the team requirement, but it demonstrates the value of this transportation method.”
In the initial collaboration, these companies stated that choosing a future optimal transport route made sense, which logically selected Dallas to Atlanta.
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Source: Logistics Management
