MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov. 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kodiak AI, Inc. (“Kodiak”) (Nasdaq: KDK), a leading provider of Physical AI-powered autonomous driving technology, today announced the appointment of Lorie Boyd as Chief People Officer. Boyd brings more than 30 years of experience in human resources and organizational leadership at some of Silicon Valley's most recognizable technology companies, including Turo, Salesforce, Oracle, Zendesk, and Plume.
In her new role, Boyd will oversee Kodiak's human resources strategy, including talent acquisition, employee development, organizational effectiveness and company culture, as Kodiak continues to scale its team.
Boyd succeeds Zsuzsanna Major as Kodiak’s Chief People Officer. Major led Kodiak’s people operations since the company’s inception and played a vital role in the company’s growth and success.
“Lorie understands that our people are every bit as important as our technology,” said Don Burnette, Founder and CEO, Kodiak. “Lorie’s ability to bring out the best in employees, strengthen leadership, and build a culture of collaboration will be critical as we enter our next phase of growth. We want to thank Zsuzsanna for all that she has built over the last eight years. Her leadership and dedication have helped shape Kodiak’s culture and laid a strong foundation for our continued growth.”
Most recently, Boyd served as Chief People Officer at Plume, where she led efforts to strengthen organizational culture and employee engagement during a period of leadership transition. Previously, she spent nearly eight years at Turo, the world's largest peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace, serving first as Vice President of People and later as Chief People Officer. During her tenure, Boyd helped guide the company's people strategy through significant growth, the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and preparations for an initial public offering.
Earlier in her career, Boyd served as Director of Recruiting at customer service platform company Zendesk, where she built and led the company's global recruiting team, helping grow its workforce from approximately 100 to nearly 900 employees worldwide. She also served in leadership roles at Salesforce and Oracle. Boyd joined Salesforce as its 90th employee, prior to the company's IPO, and helped establish its human resources operations during a critical period of early growth. Boyd holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from Stanford University.
“Autonomous trucking is changing how freight moves, and the opportunity to help build the organization behind that transition is incredibly compelling,” said Boyd. “I've spent my career helping companies navigate growth and change while creating environments where people can do their best work. From my first conversation, the quality of Kodiak’s team and its deep commitment to Kodiak’s mission really stood out. I’m thrilled to join the team at this exciting moment, where Kodiak is scaling its technology on the road.”
Boyd joins Kodiak as the company prepares to launch long-haul driverless operations on public highways with shipper launch partner IKEA, while expanding its commercial relationships with some of America’s leading trucking fleets. The Kodiak Driver, the company's vehicle-agnostic autonomous driving system, is already operating in commercial driverless service in the Permian Basin. As of the end of the second quarter of 2026, the company had deployed its technology in 35 driverless trucks with no humans in the cab.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements including regarding Kodiak's or its management teams' expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "forecast," "intend," "expect," "may," "plan," "potential," "project," "seek," "should," "will," "would" and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: Kodiak’s expectations regarding the timing of launching driverless trucks for long-haul highways operations; Kodiak’s expectations regarding the timing of completion of work on its highway launch safety case; Kodiak’s expectations regarding the expansion of its commercial relationships with some of America’s leading trucking fleets; expectations regarding the benefits and performance of Kodiak’s technology; and Kodiak's expectations with respect to its future performance and success. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this press release, and on the current expectations of Kodiak's management and are not predictions of actual performance. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as, and must not be relied upon by any investors as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions. Many actual events and circumstances are beyond the control of Kodiak. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including changes in business, market, financial, political and legal conditions; the rapid evolution of autonomous vehicle technology and flaws or errors in Kodiak’s solutions or flaws in or misuse of autonomous vehicle technology in general; risks related to the rollout of Kodiak’s business and the timing of expected business milestones; the effects of competition on Kodiak’s business; supply shortages in the materials necessary for the production of the Kodiak Driver; risks related to working with third-party manufacturers for key components of the Kodiak Driver; risks related to the retrofitting of Kodiak’s vehicles by third parties; the termination or suspension of any of Kodiak’s contracts or the reduction in counterparty spending; delays in Kodiak’s operational roadmap with key partners and customers; and Kodiak’s ability to raise capital in the near term and long term. Additional information concerning these and other factors that may impact such forward-looking statements can be found in filings and potential filings by Kodiak with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including under the heading "Risk Factors." If any of these risks materialize or any assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that Kodiak does not presently know, or that Kodiak currently believes are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements.
In addition, forward-looking statements reflect Kodiak's expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date they are made. Kodiak anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause Kodiak's assessments to change. However, while Kodiak may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Kodiak specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, except as required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Kodiak's assessments as of any date subsequent to the date they are made.
About Kodiak AI
Kodiak AI, Inc. (Nasdaq: KDK) is a leader in Physical AI, developing driverless technology that powers machines that move. The core of the company’s solution is the Kodiak Driver, a vehicle-agnostic autonomous driving system that combines advanced AI-powered software with modular hardware. Today, the Kodiak Driver operates in the long-haul trucking, industrial trucking, and defense sectors, and is already deployed in commercial operation with no one in the cab. Kodiak AI commercializes its technology through both a Driver-as-a-Service business model and strategic partnerships. In 2024, Kodiak achieved a historic milestone, becoming the first company to deploy driverless technology in customer-owned driverless semi-trucks. Commercial partners and customers include DTL Transport, Atlas Energy Solutions, IKEA, Bridgestone, Werner Enterprises, C.R. England, General Dynamics Land Systems, and Roehl Transport.
For more information, visit kodiak.ai/investors. The Kodiak press kit, including videos and images, is available here.
Contacts
Kodiak Media Relations
Pete Bigelow
Public Relations Manager
pete.bigelow@kodiak.ai
Kodiak Investor Relations
Steve Philistin
Senior Investor Relations Manager
investors@kodiak.ai
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/68e59a16-c70f-4c9e-a13a-1679644f90e1
