Kodiak Robotics’ self-driving technology to revitalize truck industry

Power delivery network challenges

Reliability

Efficiency

Size

Safety and reliability are paramount to the next generation of trucking

Commercial trucking is essential to the global economy, yet it is in peril. Drivers are in short supply for long haul trucking. Long hours and weeks on the road take their toll on drivers, increasing risk and testing the limits of safety. The average American truck driver is about 48 years old and that number is rising. Long-haul trucking is in need of change and the introduction of self-driving technology is poised to revolutionize the industry.

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Revitalizing long haul trucking

Kodiak Robotics’ autonomous technology can be retrofitted into carriers’ existing fleets. Kodiak’s autonomous solution, the KodiakDriver, includes a modular hardware system, known as SensorPods™, that integrates the majority of sensors needed to “see” its environment using the truck’s standard mirror-mount points. The pods’ modular design allows them to be swapped on and off within minutes, which maximizes fleet uptime without the need for specially-trained technicians to install the devices and recalibrate the sensor network.

Vicor advantages

High reliability

Thermally adept

Small form factor

Powering mission critical “eyes” of the truck

The sensors are the “eyes” of the truck, and their placement is critical to their ability to see the road, other vehicles, people, and potential hazards. In addition to exacting power requirements, power form factor must be as compact as possible to enable flexible placement. In the trucking environment, power must be uncompromising when it comes to reliability, efficiency and the ability to perform in-system health monitoring.

The power delivery network

Vicor power modules exceed these stringent demands enabling a high-density, high-performance power delivery network ideal for autonomous technologies. Similar to other robotics solutions, the Kodiak power system incorporates several Vicor power modules to support their sensors that require 12, 24, and 48V power supply buses. These include the Vicor BCM6123 as well as an array of PRM regulators and VTM current multipliers. All of the power modules deliver reliable, highly efficient power conversion in very small packages.

Efficiency is another essential power characteristic. In autonomous trucking systems, thermal efficiency is critical, which Vicor addresses through its power modules’ unique planar packaging, minimizing the heat the system has to exhaust outside the cab.

Vicor design support to enabled controllable outputs to every component in the system, optimizing component health by monitoring the voltage and current on all Kodiak sensors. The Kodiak Vision platform includes four basic buses that must be directed to specific sensors, actuators and processors. Each output is monitored and individually controlled through a proprietary CAN bus.

Learn more about the modular approach power.