Kodiak AI taps Verizon 5G to keep driverless trucks online and under watch

Kodiak AI has signed a commercial deal with Verizon Business to run its autonomous trucking platform over Verizon’s 5G and LTE networks. Kodiak sells an "autonomous driver as a service" for long‑haul, industrial and defense trucking, built around its AI-powered virtual driver. The trucks stream camera and sensor data back to command centers, receive over‑the‑air software updates, and rely on constant connectivity for routing and safety checks.

Verizon supplies custom 5G telematics, data plans and its ThingSpace IoT management platform to handle the large and continuous data flows from Kodiak’s fleet. The link is critical for Kodiak’s "Assisted Autonomy" feature, where human operators from partner Vay Technology can remotely step in during specific low-speed, well‑defined situations. ThingSpace gives Kodiak a single place to monitor and troubleshoot connectivity, track data use and control costs as it scales around‑the‑clock driverless freight operations.