Bridgestone Americas Inc. has celebrated a successful delivery collaboration with J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. and Kodiak Robotics Inc.: surpassing 50,000 autonomous long-haul trucking miles.
This includes Kodiak autonomous trucks that ship Bridgestone passenger car tires between South Carolina and Dallas, Texas.
Since launching in January, the route has been driven with no accidents and on-time pick-up and delivery, according to the collaborating companies.
The long-haul stretch of the route is completed using Kodiak autonomous driving technology fitted with Bridgestone M719 drive tires and R213 steer tires.
J.B. Hunt provides the trailers to and from Bridgestone facilities and Kodiak hubs.
“Working closely with Kodiak and Bridgestone, we were able to deliver a complementary solution that integrates autonomous technology with day-to-day operations while also solving backhaul challenges,” says Nick Hobbs, chief operating officer and president of contract services at J.B. Hunt.
J.B. Hunt moves the passenger car tires from Bridgestone’s passenger tire manufacturing plant in Graniteville, S.C. to Kodiak’s Atlanta, Ga.-area autonomous truck ports in Villa Rica, Ga.
Then Kodiak autonomous trucks complete the long-haul stretch of the route from Atlanta to Kodiak’s Lancaster, Texas, facility, near Dallas.
J.B. Hunt transports the load approximately 50 miles from Lancaster to Bridgestone’s Roanoke, Va., distribution center.
For the trip from Dallas to Atlanta, J.B. Hunt leverages its J.B. Hunt 360box program to identify additional customers with live and drop freight needs along that route.
“As part of our evolution into a global leader in sustainable mobility solutions, Bridgestone joined forces with Kodiak and J.B. Hunt to prove that autonomous long-haul shipping is more than just a daydream – it's happening right now,” says Brad Blizzard, vice president of logistics and product delivery at Bridgestone.
