Atlas Energy Solutions Inc. (NYSE: AESI) (“Atlas”) and Kodiak
Robotics, Inc. (“Kodiak”) today announced that the two companies
have entered into an agreement whereby Kodiak will outfit new Atlas
high-capacity trucks with Kodiak’s autonomous driving
technology.
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the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240723398477/en/
The Kodiak partnership is another example
of the unique culture of innovation that is pervasive inside our
organization (Photo: Business Wire)
The two companies have already completed their first driverless
delivery of frac sand in West Texas’s Permian Basin. The 21-mile
delivery transported Atlas’s high-quality frac sand from an Atlas
depot to a wellsite with no one inside the cab.
The companies also announced that Atlas has placed an order for
Kodiak-equipped driverless trucks that will deliver frac sand
across the Permian Basin’s existing infrastructure of private lease
roads. Early next year, Atlas plans to launch commercial operations
using its first two trucks equipped with the Kodiak Driver,
Kodiak’s industry-leading autonomous system.
Under the agreement, Kodiak will provide its technology to Atlas
via a driver-as-a-service licensing agreement. Atlas will own the
trucks, and Kodiak will provide the Kodiak Driver’s
fully-redundant, platform-agnostic, hardware and software stack
designed for scalable driverless deployment. Kodiak will also
provide operational support services, including remote monitoring
from its operations center in Lancaster, Texas.
“Atlas’s partnership with Kodiak is another example of the
unique culture of innovation that is pervasive inside our
organization,” said John Turner, CEO, Atlas.
The hot and dry climate in the Permian Basin makes it one of the
world’s most challenging environments for truck drivers. The Kodiak
Driver is well equipped to handle driving through harsh conditions,
including dust storms that impact visibility and extreme heat.
“The Permian Basin’s expansive private lease road network, which
expands across the Delaware and Midland Basins, is an ideal
environment in which to introduce autonomous trucking in North
America,” said Chris Scholla, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Atlas.
“With average traffic speeds of under 20 MPH on these large swaths
of private roads, we can safely deliver a more reliable last-mile
solution to our customers in the Permian Basin. This truly
represents a step-change in oilfield logistics.”
“Deploying driverless trucks with Atlas marks the beginning of a
new era for autonomous vehicles,” said Don Burnette, Founder &
CEO, Kodiak. “Our partnership with Atlas will make us the first
autonomous semi-truck company to establish commercial driverless
operations, and the first company to make autonomous trucking a
real business. We look forward to scaling our trucking product not
only in the Permian Basin, but also over-the-road.”
About Atlas Energy Solutions
Atlas Energy Solutions Inc. is a leading proppant producer and
proppant logistics provider, serving primarily the Permian Basin of
West Texas and New Mexico. We operate 12 proppant production
facilities across the Permian Basin with a combined annual
production capacity of 28 million tons, including both large-scale
in-basin facilities and smaller distributed mining units. We manage
a portfolio of leading-edge logistics assets, which includes our
42-mile Dune Express conveyor system, which is currently under
construction and is scheduled to come online in the fourth quarter
of 2024. In addition to our conveyor infrastructure, we manage a
fleet of 120 trucks, which are capable of delivering expanded
payloads due to our custom-manufactured trailers and patented
drop-depot process. Our approach to managing both our proppant
production and proppant logistics operations is intently focused on
leveraging technology, automation and remote operations to drive
efficiencies.
We are a low-cost producer of various high-quality, locally
sourced proppants used during the well completion process. We offer
both dry and damp sand and carry various mesh sizes including 100
mesh and 40/70 mesh. Proppant is a key component necessary to
facilitate the recovery of hydrocarbons from oil and natural gas
wells.
Our logistics platform is designed to increase the efficiency,
safety and sustainability of the oil and natural gas industry
within the Permian Basin. Proppant logistics is increasingly a
differentiating factor affecting customer choice among proppant
producers. The cost of delivering sand, even short distances, can
be a significant component of customer spending on their well
completions given the substantial volumes that are utilized in
modern well designs.
We continue to invest in and pursue leading-edge technologies,
including autonomous trucking, digital infrastructure, and
artificial intelligence, to support opportunities to gain
efficiencies in our operations. To this end, we have recently taken
delivery of next-generation dredge mining assets to drive
efficiencies in our proppant production operations. These
technology-focused investments aim to improve our cost structure
and also combine to produce beneficial environmental and community
impacts.
While our core business is fundamentally aligned with a lower
emissions economy, our core obligation has been, and will always
be, to our stockholders. We recognize that maximizing value for our
stockholders requires that we optimize the outcomes for our broader
stakeholders, including our employees and the communities in which
we operate. We are proud of the fact that our approach to
innovation in the hydrocarbon industry while operating in an
environmentally responsible manner creates immense value. Since our
founding in 2017, our core mission has been to improve human
beings’ access to the hydrocarbons that power our lives while also
delivering differentiated social and environmental progress. Our
Atlas team has driven innovation and has produced industry-leading
environmental benefits by reducing energy consumption, emissions,
and our aerial footprint. We call this Sustainable Environmental
and Social Progress.
We were founded in 2017 by Ben M. “Bud” Brigham, our Executive
Chairman, and are led by an entrepreneurial team with a history of
constructive disruption bringing significant and complementary
experience to this enterprise, including the perspective of
longtime E&P operators, which provides for an elevated
understanding of the end users of our products and services. Our
executive management team has a proven track record with a history
of generating positive returns and value creation. Our experience
as E&P operators was instrumental to our understanding of the
opportunity created by in-basin sand production and supply in the
Permian Basin, which we view as North America’s premier shale
resource and which we believe will remain its most active through
economic cycles.
About Kodiak Robotics, Inc.
Kodiak Robotics, Inc. was founded in 2018 and has become the
trusted world leader in autonomous ground transportation committed
to a safer and more efficient future for all. The company is
developing an industry-leading artificial intelligence (AI) powered
technology stack purpose-built for driverless military and
long-haul trucking applications. Kodiak’s unique modular hardware
approach integrates sensors into a streamlined sensor-pod structure
that optimizes for perception, scalability, and maintainability.
The company delivers freight daily for its customers across the
South, using its autonomous technology. Kodiak also leverages its
commercial self-driving software to develop, test and deploy
autonomous capabilities for the U.S. Department of Defense. Learn
more about Kodiak on the web at kodiak.ai, and on LinkedIn and
Twitter. You can find the company press kit HERE.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Statements
that are predictive or prospective in nature, that depend upon or
refer to future events or conditions or that include the words
“may,” “assume,” “forecast,” “position,” “strategy,” “potential,”
“continue,” “could,” “will,” “plan,” “project,” “budget,”
“predict,” “pursue,” “target,” “seek,” “objective,” “believe,”
“expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate” and other expressions
that are predictions of or indicate future events and trends and
that do not relate to historical matters identify forward-looking
statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are
not limited to, statements around Atlas’s and Kodiak’s ability to
achieve certain milestones around and realize the potential
benefits of, the development, manufacturing, scaling and
commercialization of the Kodiak Driver and related services and
technology and on the expected timeframe or at all; statements
relating to the delivery timeline of the Kodiak Driver-equipped
Atlas trucks; statements regarding the impact of autonomous driving
systems on Permian Basin oil and gas operations, and the potential
benefits these products and services may offer to customers;
expansion and growth of Atlas’s business; Atlas’s business
strategy, industry, future operations and profitability, expected
capital expenditures and the impact of such expenditures on Atlas’s
performance, current and potential future long-term contracts and
Atlas’s future business and financial performance.
Although forward-looking statements reflect our good faith
beliefs at the time they are made, we caution you that these
forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and
uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of
which are beyond our control. These risks include but are not
limited to: the acquisition of additional Kodiak Driver-equipped
trucks on anticipated terms and timing or at all; uncertainties as
to whether the transaction will achieve its anticipated benefits
within the expected time period or at all; the occurrence of any
event, change, or other circumstance that could give rise to the
termination of the agreement between Atlas and Kodiak; unforeseen
or unknown liabilities; unexpected future capital expenditures;
commodity price volatility, including volatility stemming from the
ongoing armed conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and
Hamas; increasing hostilities and instability in the Middle East;
adverse developments affecting the financial services industry;
Atlas’s ability to complete growth projects, including the Dune
Express, on time and on budget; the risk that stockholder
litigation in connection with our recent corporate reorganization
may result in significant costs of defense, indemnification and
liability; changes in general economic, business and political
conditions, including changes in the financial markets; actions of
OPEC+ to set and maintain oil production levels; the level of
production of crude oil, natural gas and other hydrocarbons and the
resultant market prices of crude oil; inflation; environmental
risks; operating risks; regulatory changes; lack of demand; market
share growth; the uncertainty inherent in projecting future rates
of reserves; production; cash flow; access to capital; the timing
of development expenditures; and other factors discussed or
referenced in Atlas’s filings made from time to time with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including those
discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in Atlas’s Annual Report
on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on February 27, 2024, and any of
Atlas’s subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and
Current Reports on Form 8-K. Readers are cautioned not to place
undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as
of the date hereof. Factors or events that could cause Atlas’s
actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is
not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statement, whether as a result of new information, future
developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240723398477/en/
Atlas Energy Solutions Investor Relations Contact Kyle
Turlington +1 512-220-1200 IR@atlas.energy
Kodiak Media Contacts Daniel Goff Director of External
Affairs +1 646-515-3933 dan@kodiak.ai
Kylee Keskerian PR Consultant +1 419-822-6417
kylee@futuristacommunications.com
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