Power System Design Using Kodiak and Vicor Power Modules
Vicor Contributes to Optimization of Kodiak Sensor System Components

Kodiak leads a new era in long-distance autonomous transportation by applying Vicor's power management solutions to commercial trucks.

Kodiak announced on the 10th that it has formed a partnership with Vicor Power Systems, recognizing that power system design must continue to achieve three key elements—reliability, efficiency, and the ability to monitor the internal state of the system—even in autonomous truck transportation environments.

KodiakDriver, Kodiak Robotics' autonomous driving technology for long-distance truck transport, has a built-in modular hardware system known as SensorPods™.

This system utilizes the truck's existing mirror mount points to integrate multiple sensors necessary for monitoring the driving environment.

Kodiak designed a high-density, high-performance power system using Vicor power modules.

Multiple Vicor power modules mounted on the Kodiak power system effortlessly meet the technical requirements of sensors requiring 12V, 24V, and 48V power supply buses.

Examples of modules used include Vicor NBM6123, BCM 6123, PRM, and VTM, all of which demonstrate high reliability and power conversion efficiency even in ultra-small packages.

Also, BycoIt helped implement a design that monitors the voltage and current of all Kodiak sensors to control the output of all system components and optimize the state of the components.

The Kodiak platform has four built-in basic buses connected to specific sensors, actuators, and processors. Each output is monitored and individually controlled via a high-performance CAN bus.

In addition, Vicor also provided a 48V battery charging function for trucks that are parked in a garage to charge.

Since an AC land power system is applied, the battery status is maintained even when the engine is not running, allowing maintenance technicians and engineers to use the vehicle even from inside.

By incorporating the Vicor 48V system into the truck, the Kodiaq was able to reduce cable size, weight, and wasted space, and operate the vehicle even in high-power environments.

Meanwhile, Kodiak is a company that has focused on developing safe systems capable of handling complex long-distance driving environments since opening its main office in South Dallas, Texas in 2019.

Since August 2022, Kodiak has been providing autonomous freight transport services seven days a week for home goods retailer IKEA between its distribution center in Bayston, Texas, and the IKEA store in Frisco.

Don Burnette, founder and CEO of Vicor, said, “The Kodiak team is composed of experts with long careers in the autonomous vehicle industry. This allowed us to minimize trial and error and achieve results in a relatively short period of time from the time the autonomous vehicle industry began to gain momentum.”