Atlas Energy Solutions and Kodiak AI are expanding their autonomous truck fleet in the Permian Basin, adding a second driverless load-out point along Atlas’s 42-mile Dune Express sand conveyor. The partners plan to grow the Kodiak-enabled fleet from 28 trucks as of 31 March 2026 to 100 by mid-2027, with public-road operations targeted for early 2027.

Atlas now runs driverless trucks concurrently from depots in Texas and New Mexico, roughly 90 minutes apart, widening its delivery reach across one of the world’s most active oil and gas basins. Since deployments began in 2024, the fleet has completed around 7,000 loads across 15 routes, hauling more than 450,000 tons of sand and logging over 23,500 driverless hours in the first quarter of 2026 alone.

On 20 July 2026, Kodiak-powered trucks delivered 176 loads of sand in a single day, a record across 18 months of driverless operations with Atlas. Earlier this year, the partners also completed the first autonomous triple-trailer trucking operation, hauling a combined loaded weight of more than 135 tons.

John Turner, Chief Executive Officer and President of Atlas Energy Solutions, said the Kodiak partnership was central to improving efficiency and reducing risk in oilfield sand logistics. Don Burnette, Founder and Chief Executive of Kodiak, said the companies had built the world’s largest driverless big-rig fleet and were demonstrating that autonomous trucking can deliver results at commercial scale.

Source: Kodiak AI