Autonomous Vehicle Technology Provider Kodiak AI to Trade on Nasdaq

Autonomous vehicle technology provider Kodiak AI, formerly known as Kodiak Robotics, is set to begin trading on Nasdaq Thursday (Sept. 25) under ticker symbols KDK and KDKRW.

Kodiak AI was created by the business combination of Kodiak Robotics and publicly traded special purpose acquisition company Ares Acquisition Corporation II (AACT), according to a Wednesday (Sept. 24) press release.

The combination was approved by AACT’s shareholders Tuesday (Sept. 23) and the SPAC was renamed Kodiak AI, according to the release.

Kodiak received more than $212.5 million from institutional investors in connection with the business combination, and the operating company de-SPAC transaction valued Kodiak at about $2.5 billion, per the release.

The company’s artificial intelligence-powered autonomous driving system, Kodiak Driver, is designed for the trucking industry and integrates learnings from real-world experience, according to the release.

Kodiak delivered Kodiak Driver-powered driverless semi-trucks to Atlas Energy Solutions in 2024, and that company now owns and operates eight such trucks and placed an initial order of 100 trucks in 2025, the release said.

The autonomous vehicle technology provider plans to scale its commercialization of Kodiak Driver by accessing the public markets, per the release.

“Going public with the support of our partners at AACT marks an important step in Kodiak’s journey to help transform how freight moves by providing our driverless solution to customers,” Kodiak Founder and CEO Don Burnette said in the release. “The Kodiak Driver is already on the road, safely and reliably delivering freight every day for paying customers without a human in the cab.”

Allyson Satin, chief operating officer at AACT and partner at Ares Management Corporation, said in the release that AACT sought to find “a differentiated business primed for commercial growth and well-positioned to enter the public markets.”

“Kodiak has distinguished itself through its innovative technology, which is already integrated into customer fleets and utilized for daily, revenue-generating driverless freight operations,” Satin said.

It was reported in April that Kodiak Robotics planned to become a public company in the second half of the year through a merger with AACT.

In October 2023, Kodiak Robotics and global logistics company Maersk launched a commercial autonomous trucking lane between Houston and Oklahoma City, saying they were using autonomous trucks, with a safety driver behind the wheel, to haul consumer goods between a facility and a distribution center.