Atlas Energy Solutions will grow its Kodiak-powered driverless truck fleet from 28 vehicles to 100 by mid-2027, the two companies said this week. The expansion accompanies the start of driverless proppant deliveries from a second simultaneous load-out point along Atlas’s 42-mile Dune Express sand conveyor in the Permian Basin. Atlas (NYSE: AESI) now runs autonomous trucks at load-out sites in both Texas and New Mexico, roughly 90 minutes apart, where it previously operated from a single point at a time. The trucks are equipped with the Kodiak Driver, the autonomous driving system developed by Kodiak AI (Nasdaq: KDK).
Highlights
- Fleet target: 100 autonomous delivery trucks by mid-2027, up from 28 driverless trucks operating as of March 31, 2026
- Second load-out point: concurrent driverless operations at two sites approximately 90 minutes apart, spanning Texas and New Mexico
- Single-day record: 176 loads of sand delivered on July 20, an all-time daily high across 18 months of driverless deployments
- Cumulative totals: roughly 7,000 loads and more than 450,000 tons of sand across 15 distinct routes, with over 23,500 driverless operating hours logged in the first quarter of 2026
A Second Load-Out Point Widens the Service Area
The operational change at the center of the announcement is geographic. Until now, Atlas ran driverless deliveries from one load-out point on the Dune Express at a time. Adding a second concurrent site lets the company dispatch autonomous trucks to well sites across a wider stretch of the Permian, which spans West Texas and eastern New Mexico.
Atlas says the additional load-out point increases daily load counts and improves responsiveness to customer demand. The company supplies proppant used in well completions and has been pairing mining and transportation automation with last-mile logistics management to reduce cost and operational complexity.
“This partnership with Kodiak is a critical part of the Atlas strategy to transform oilfield sand logistics through innovation,” said John Turner, CEO and President of Atlas Energy Solutions. “Our mission is to seek critical energy infrastructure with inefficiencies, then engineer solutions that improve efficiency, reduce risk and enhance our customers’ operational success.”
How Fast Has the Fleet Scaled?
Atlas began driverless deployments in 2024, when it became the first customer to own and operate Kodiak Driver-equipped trucks in commercial service. Self Drive News covered the initial RoboTruck handover and the subsequent fleet additions that followed through 2025.
By March 31, 2026, the program had reached 28 driverless trucks running 15 distinct routes. Those trucks have together carried approximately 7,000 loads and hauled more than 450,000 tons of sand, and logged over 23,500 driverless hours in the first quarter of 2026 alone. On July 20, Kodiak-powered trucks moved 176 loads of sand in a single day — the highest daily total across 18 months of driverless work with Atlas in the basin.
Earlier this year, the two companies introduced a configuration allowing one autonomous truck to haul three connected trailers at once, with a combined loaded weight of more than 135 tons. Kodiak describes it as the first autonomous triple-trailer trucking operation.
“Together, Atlas and Kodiak have deployed the world’s largest fleet of driverless big-rig trucks,” said Don Burnette, Founder and CEO, Kodiak. “We’ve demonstrated that autonomous trucking is delivering meaningful results today. Our expanding partnership, which now covers two unique locations, is creating a blueprint for how autonomy can transform logistics by improving efficiency, increasing productivity, and delivering lasting value for customers at commercial scale.”
Public Roads Are the Next Step
The Atlas deployment has run on private lease roads. Both companies now expect the fleet to operate on public roads by early 2027, subject to regulatory and operational milestones. That transition would extend the reach of the autonomous fleet well beyond the private road network it currently serves.
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