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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:

* You can find Don Burnette on LinkedIn and X.

* Kodiak AI’s website (link).

-Harry

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