"Steve has long been a leader in vehicle safety and has the perfect background to lead Kodiak's safety program as we finish the work to commercially launch self-driving trucks," said Don Burnette, Kodiak CEO and founder. "Safety is at the forefront of everything we do at Kodiak and is central to everyone on our team. Steve will leverage his extensive knowledge to ensure that safety continues to be the throughline across Kodiak."
See also: Kodiak turns Class 8 EV into self-driving truck
Kenner worked at Ford, where he was the global director of automotive safety, and held engineering roles at Chrysler and General Motors. Later, at Apple, Kenner led the safety and regulatory activities for the Special Projects Group. After Apple, Kenner led Uber Advanced Technology Group's product safety efforts, including functional safety, software safety, and fault management. Most recently, Kenner served as chief product and safety officer at Locomation, and director of safety standards at Aurora.
See also: Kodiak to operate 24/6 autonomous freight between Dallas and Atlanta
"Kodiak's dedication to safety aligns with my mission to help on-road vehicles achieve the highest safety standards," Kenner said. "Autonomous trucking technology has the potential to save lives while solving our nation's existential supply chain issues. Kodiak is an established leader in the safe testing and deployment of AV technologies. I look forward to further strengthening Kodiak's safety programs as the company works to deploy autonomous trucks commercially."
Kenner earned an MBA from Stanford University and graduated from Kettering University magna cum laude with a B.S. in mechanical engineering.
