Kodiak AI reviews · checked 11 Oct 2026
Is Kodiak AI a good place to work?
Mostly. Kodiak AI hires CDL drivers directly at $34 to $39 an hour ($60 over the road) with good benefits, but it loses money, warns it may not last without new funding, and aims to take drivers out of its trucks. The job may not last: Kodiak reports substantial doubt it can keep going a year without new money, its shares closed under $2 in October 2026, and it plans driverless Dallas to Houston runs by year-end.
, RobotTraining.jobs shows 5 Kodiak AI jobs open, typically paying $35 to $40 an hour (median $35).
- Glassdoor3.1/568 reviews
- Indeed3.7/53 reviews
- Scores as of 11 Oct 2026
Kodiak AI, reviewed
Researched October 2026 · 21 sourcesIt pays $35–$40/hr for a typical job (median $35/hr).
Actively hiring, pay independently measured from its live feedKodiak AI (formerly Kodiak Robotics) was founded in 2018 by CEO Don Burnette and is based in Mountain View, California, with its Texas hub in Lancaster. It went public on Nasdaq (KDK) in September 2025 by merging with a SPAC, Ares Acquisition Corporation II, and raised $100 million more in May 2026. It had 342 staff at the end of 2025 and Q2 2026 revenue of $3.5 million.
Drivers are Kodiak employees with a 401(k) and health plans. Current posts: $37 an hour for Lancaster, TX safety drivers (5 days on, 2 off), $39 in Odessa (4 on, 4 off), $34 for remote Assisted Autonomy drivers, $60 on over-the-road runs. All need a Class A CDL and 3 years of experience; pay frequency is not stated.
Glassdoor 3.1/5 (68 reviews) · Indeed 3.7/5 (3 reviews). Read October 2026.
5 open roles on Kodiak AI, independently checked 26 Oct 2026.
On-site (trucking corridors, TX and others).
We found no documented scams using Kodiak's name, and its careers page has no fraud warning. Real openings are on kodiak.ai/careers and job-boards.greenhouse.io/kodiak; questions go to careers@kodiak.ai. Glassdoor's plain 'Kodiak' page is Kodiak Sciences, a biotech. The FTC says job offers sent by text or WhatsApp, or that ask you to pay, are scams.
What people praise
- Benefits beat most driving jobs: Kodiak pays 90% of a worker's health premium (75% for dependents), double time on holidays, and two weeks of vacation plus a week of sick time in year one.
- The Odessa safety driver job is 100% local driving on a 4 days on, 4 days off rotation at $39 an hour, with a $3,000 bonus for each driver you refer who gets hired.
- Operators on Indeed were upbeat in 2022 and 2023: a Lancaster, TX autonomous vehicle operator felt like a pioneer, and a Dallas freight operations specialist called it the best company they had worked for.
What people complain about
- A Lancaster, TX fleet specialist (Glassdoor, October 2026) reports 12-hour ops center shifts that include a weekend day, salary with no overtime, shifts moved between day and night, and very high turnover.
- An operations lead (September 2026) and a fleet specialist (August 2025), both in Lancaster, describe favoritism, bullying by supervisors and trainers, and firings they call unfair (Glassdoor).
- A vehicle software operator in Dallas (Indeed, October 2023) reported no overtime, a poor PTO policy, no raises or bonuses for drivers, and toxic management.
- On Glassdoor only 56% would recommend Kodiak, and career opportunities score 2.6/5. None of the reviews we could read came from a safety driver; 35 of 68 are from Mountain View.
What has gone wrong
- August 2026. Kodiak's August 2026 quarterly report, like its 2025 annual report, says there is substantial doubt it can keep operating for a year without new funding. It held $151.1 million on June 30, 2026, after free cash flow of minus $38.1 million that quarter. The stock closed at $1.67 on October 9, 2026, against a 52-week high of $11.35.
- September 2026. Kodiak said it will haul IKEA freight between Dallas and Houston with no one in the cab by the end of 2026, as it has done for Atlas in the Permian since December 2024. Safety observers ride those I-45 runs now; CEO Don Burnette wrote that the drivers who remain can focus on local jobs.
- March 2025. NHTSA crash reports list six minor crashes involving Kodiak trucks in Texas and Oklahoma from August 2022 to March 2025, none with injuries. In most, another vehicle hit or brushed the Kodiak truck, and police blamed the other driver in two. NHTSA's newer file (June 2025 to August 2026) lists none.
- September 2026. A federal employment civil rights suit, Fortune v. Kodiak Robotics (Northern District of Texas, 3:26-cv-03125), was filed on September 14, 2026 and is flagged as a class action. The claims are not public in the docket summary we read, and nothing has been decided.
Best for: Class A CDL drivers with 3 or more clean years who want local work at $34 to $39 an hour with strong benefits, and who are fine watching over a self-driving truck on nights and weekends. Not for: Anyone who needs a job that will last years (Kodiak is unprofitable and building trucks that need no driver), or who lacks 3 years of verifiable Class A experience and a clean record.
Sources for this review
- Greenhouse: Kodiak job board, 69 open roles read Oct 11, 2026
- Greenhouse: Kodiak, Class A Safety Driver, Lancaster, TX ($37/hr, 5 on 2 off), read Oct 11, 2026
- Greenhouse: Kodiak, Class A Safety Driver, Kermit or Odessa, TX ($39/hr, 4 on 4 off), read Oct 11, 2026
- Greenhouse: Kodiak, Class A CDL Driver (Assisted Autonomy), Lancaster, TX ($34/hr), read Oct 11, 2026
- Greenhouse: Kodiak, Safety Driver, Commercial, Lancaster, TX ($37/hr, $60/hr OTR), read Oct 11, 2026
- Nasdaq: Kodiak completes business combination with Ares Acquisition Corporation II (Sep 24, 2025)
- SEC: Kodiak AI Form 10-K for 2025 (employees, going-concern doubt), filed Mar 11, 2026
- SEC: Kodiak AI Form 10-Q for Q2 2026 (liquidity and going concern), filed Aug 7, 2026
- SEC: Kodiak AI first quarter 2026 results and $100 million PIPE (May 7, 2026)
- SEC: Kodiak AI second quarter 2026 results (Aug 6, 2026)
- Stock Analysis: Kodiak AI (KDK) quote, close of Oct 9, 2026, read Oct 11, 2026
- Trucking Dive: Kodiak targets year-end driverless launch on Dallas-Houston lane with Ikea (Sep 29, 2026)
- FreightWaves: Kodiak taps IKEA to launch driverless freight on I-45 (Sep 29, 2026)
- NHTSA: Standing General Order ADS crash reports, archive July 2021 to June 2025
- NHTSA: Standing General Order ADS crash reports, June 2025 to August 2026, read Oct 11, 2026
- Law360: Fortune v. Kodiak Robotics Inc, N.D. Tex. 3:26-cv-03125 (filed Sep 14, 2026)
- Glassdoor: Kodiak AI reviews, read Oct 11, 2026
- Indeed: Kodiak Robotics reviews, read Oct 11, 2026
- Glassdoor: 'Kodiak' company page, which is Kodiak Sciences (biotech, Palo Alto)
- Kodiak AI: Careers page, read Oct 11, 2026
- FTC: That job offer text is probably a scam (Apr 30, 2026)
Got a message from Kodiak AI?
Its real sites: kodiak.ai. Paste the message to check the links, the sender and the pay.
Kodiak AI's job board, measured
We read this board daily and set it beside every other employer we follow: how many jobs it posts, how many of them name a rate, who can apply and how quickly listings disappear.
On 25 Oct 2026, Kodiak AI had 5 open roles: 0.4% of the 1,139 open at the 85 employers RobotTraining.jobs tracks, the joint 23rd highest count.
Taking each week's closing count, Kodiak AI moved from 8 open roles on 20 Sep 2026 to 5 by 25 Oct 2026.
Between 28 Sep 2026 and 25 Oct 2026, Kodiak AI put up 1 new listing and took down 3 (a median of 88.8 days online before coming down, versus 49.9 days at other employers); its open count moved from 7 to 5.
None of its 5 open roles are open to people applying from anywhere (0.4% at other employers); all are restricted to certain countries, the United States chief among them (named by all 5).
Kodiak AI next to the rest of the market
Next to every other robot training employer, how big is Kodiak AI, what does it pay, who can apply and how fast do its listings turn over?
| Measure | Kodiak AI | Other employers | Rank (1st = top) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jobs live on 25 Oct 2026 | 5 | 1,134 | joint 23rd of 85 |
| Share of the whole market | 0.4% | 99.6% | joint 23rd of 85 |
| Newly posted in this period | 1 | 159 | joint 23rd of 85 |
| Kinds of work listed | 1 | 7 | joint 26th of 85 |
| Open roles with a posted hourly rate | 100.0% | 24.0% | joint 1st of 85 |
| Median advertised pay | $35/hr | $25/hr | joint 2nd of 15 |
| Open roles accepting any country | 0.0% | 0.4% | joint 2nd of 58 |
| Median days up before removal | 88.8 days | 49.9 days | 5th of 8 |
Weekly count of open roles at Kodiak AI
Are Kodiak AI's robot training listings growing or shrinking from week to week?
| Week | Open at week's end | New listings |
|---|---|---|
| 14 to 20 Sep | 0 | |
| 21 to 27 Sep | 1 | |
| 28 Sep to 4 Oct | 0 | |
| 5 to 11 Oct | 1 | |
| 12 to 18 Oct | 0 | |
| 19 to 25 Oct | 0 |
Common questions about Kodiak AI
Is Kodiak AI a good place to work?
Mostly. Kodiak AI hires CDL drivers directly at $34 to $39 an hour ($60 over the road) with good benefits, but it loses money, warns it may not last without new funding, and aims to take drivers out of its trucks. The job may not last: Kodiak reports substantial doubt it can keep going a year without new money, its shares closed under $2 in October 2026, and it plans driverless Dallas to Houston runs by year-end.
Is Kodiak AI legit?
Yes. Kodiak AI (formerly Kodiak Robotics) was founded in 2018 by CEO Don Burnette and is based in Mountain View, California, with its Texas hub in Lancaster. It went public on Nasdaq (KDK) in September 2025 by merging with a SPAC, Ares Acquisition Corporation II, and raised $100 million more in May 2026. It had 342 staff at the end of 2025 and Q2 2026 revenue of $3.5 million.
Is Kodiak AI a scam?
No. Kodiak AI is a real company. We found no documented scams using Kodiak's name, and its careers page has no fraud warning. Real openings are on kodiak.ai/careers and job-boards.greenhouse.io/kodiak; questions go to careers@kodiak.ai. Glassdoor's plain 'Kodiak' page is Kodiak Sciences, a biotech. The FTC says job offers sent by text or WhatsApp, or that ask you to pay, are scams.
Does Kodiak AI pay?
Yes. Public autonomous-trucking company. Payouts: Hourly, regular payroll. Drivers are Kodiak employees with a 401(k) and health plans. Current posts: $37 an hour for Lancaster, TX safety drivers (5 days on, 2 off), $39 in Odessa (4 on, 4 off), $34 for remote Assisted Autonomy drivers, $60 on over-the-road runs. All need a Class A CDL and 3 years of experience; pay frequency is not stated.
How do employees rate Kodiak AI?
Glassdoor 3.1/5 (68 reviews) · Indeed 3.7/5 (3 reviews), as read in October 2026. Praised: Benefits beat most driving jobs: Kodiak pays 90% of a worker's health premium (75% for dependents), double time on holidays, and two weeks of vacation plus a week of sick time in year one. Criticised: A Lancaster, TX fleet specialist (Glassdoor, October 2026) reports 12-hour ops center shifts that include a weekend day, salary with no overtime, shifts moved between day and night, and very high turnover.
Has Kodiak AI had any problems or incidents?
August 2026: Kodiak's August 2026 quarterly report, like its 2025 annual report, says there is substantial doubt it can keep operating for a year without new funding. It held $151.1 million on June 30, 2026, after free cash flow of minus $38.1 million that quarter. The stock closed at $1.67 on October 9, 2026, against a 52-week high of $11.35. September 2026: Kodiak said it will haul IKEA freight between Dallas and Houston with no one in the cab by the end of 2026, as it has done for Atlas in the Permian since December 2024. Safety observers ride those I-45 runs now; CEO Don Burnette wrote that the drivers who remain can focus on local jobs. March 2025: NHTSA crash reports list six minor crashes involving Kodiak trucks in Texas and Oklahoma from August 2022 to March 2025, none with injuries. In most, another vehicle hit or brushed the Kodiak truck, and police blamed the other driver in two. NHTSA's newer file (June 2025 to August 2026) lists none. September 2026: A federal employment civil rights suit, Fortune v. Kodiak Robotics (Northern District of Texas, 3:26-cv-03125), was filed on September 14, 2026 and is flagged as a class action. The claims are not public in the docket summary we read, and nothing has been decided.
How can I tell a real Kodiak AI recruiter from a fake one?
We found no documented scams using Kodiak's name, and its careers page has no fraud warning. Real openings are on kodiak.ai/careers and job-boards.greenhouse.io/kodiak; questions go to careers@kodiak.ai. Glassdoor's plain 'Kodiak' page is Kodiak Sciences, a biotech. The FTC says job offers sent by text or WhatsApp, or that ask you to pay, are scams.
Does Kodiak AI have jobs open now?
Yes. Its public job board has 5 Kodiak AI jobs open (checked 26 Oct 2026). Taking each week's closing count, Kodiak AI moved from 8 open roles on 20 Sep 2026 to 5 by 25 Oct 2026.
Who is Kodiak AI a good fit for?
A good fit: Class A CDL drivers with 3 or more clean years who want local work at $34 to $39 an hour with strong benefits, and who are fine watching over a self-driving truck on nights and weekends. A poor fit: Anyone who needs a job that will last years (Kodiak is unprofitable and building trucks that need no driver), or who lacks 3 years of verifiable Class A experience and a clean record.