Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, and Substack. Transcripts are also available by clicking on the “transcripts” button in the top right corner of this post on the app/web version. You can also access them from the email version by clicking here.
In today’s episode, I’m speaking with Don Burnette, founder and CEO of Kodiak AI. Don shares what has kept him motivated after more than a decade in the autonomous vehicle industry, why he remains confident in the future of AVs, and how the space has evolved from years of R&D into real-world commercialization.
We also dive into what Kodiak AI is building and its vehicle-agnostic physical AI approach, which spans long-haul trucking, industrial applications, defense, and more. Don explains why long-haul trucking remains such a large opportunity, what it will take to reach fully driverless operations at scale, and why highway-only autonomy isn’t enough to make the product viable.
Finally, we discuss the differences between highway and city-street autonomy, how Kodiak approaches proving safety, and what it has learned from earlier deployments. Don also shares his perspective on scaling KPIs, the competitive landscape, Kodiak’s experience as a public company, and whether autonomous trucking could ultimately be a larger market than robotaxis.
Chapters
(00:00) Introduction to Don Burnette
(01:30) What’s kept Don going in the AV space for over a decade
(02:15) Why Don is confident in the future of AVs, and some of the challenges the industry faces today
(04:09) How AVs have moved from R&D to commercialization
(06:30) What Kodiak AI does
(07:55) Kodiak AI’s generalized physical AI and how it’s vehicle agnostic
(10:07) Kodiak AI’s verticals: including long-haul trucking, industrial trucking and defense
(18:03) The role of robotaxis in propagating autonomy to the general public
(19:50) Why long-haul trucking has a bigger total addressable market than industrial trucking
(21:30) Steps to reaching full driverless operations in long-haul trucking, and how Kodiak AI is approaching it
(23:44) Why highway-only autonomy isn’t enough
(25:10) Highway vs. city-street autonomous driving
(26:59) Public perception of accidents and proving the safety case in AV trucking vs. robotaxis
(30:20) Learning from the experiences of earlier, broader AV deployments
(33:10) Experience operating as a publicly listed company
(34:50) KPIs for autonomous truck deployments and which ones Kodiak AI focuses on
(37:42) Competition in the AV trucking space and Kodiak AI’s position
(39:25) How individual incidents affect the general perception of autonomy
(41:50) Is autonomous trucking’s total addressable market bigger than robotaxi’s?
(43:41) Conclusion and final thoughts
Notes/Links:
-Harry
