US fleet achieves 50,000 autonomous long-haul miles on Bridgestone tyres

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, one of the largest supply chain solutions providers in North America, has surpassed 50,000 autonomous long-haul trucking miles on Bridgestone tyres.

The feet was achieved as part of an ongoing weekly delivery collaboration with autonomous trucking company Kodiak Robotics, incorporating its autonomous trucks to ship Bridgestone passenger car tyres between South Carolina and Dallas.

Since launching in January, J.B. Hunt says the autonomous route has been driven with no accidents and achieved 100 per cent on-time pick-up and delivery. The companies have now expanded the collaboration to include additional weekly deliveries along the route.

Utilising Kodiak’s hub-to-hub autonomous delivery model, the long-haul stretch of the route from Atlanta to Dallas – approximately 750 miles and 16 hours – is completed using Kodiak autonomous driving technology, which is fitted with Bridgestone M719 drive tyres and R213 steer tyres.

J.B. Hunt transports the trailers to and from Bridgestone facilities and Kodiak hubs. The companies leverage J.B. Hunt 360box, a fluid network of 14,000-plus company trailers, to secure capacity for the return trip from Dallas, preventing empty miles and improving route efficiency.

Bridgestone Americas announced an investment in and partnership with Kodiak in June 2021. As part of the partnership, Bridgestone has integrated its smart-sensing tyre technologies into Kodiak’s autonomous trucks and have integrated smart tyre technologies to further enhance vehicle intelligence for a safer, more efficient, and more sustainable mobility future. Bridgestone is also Kodiak’s exclusive tyre supplier.