MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kodiak AI, Inc. ("Kodiak") (NASDAQ:KDK), a leading provider of AI-powered autonomous vehicle technology, today announced the appointment of Chet Gryczan as Vice President and Managing Director of Defense, effective immediately. Gryczan brings more than two decades of experience building and leading defense and automotive programs.

Gryczan-Chet

Most recently, Gryczan served as President of Detroit Defense, an engineering and systems integration firm serving the U.S. Military and some of the largest American defense contractors. In this role, Gryczan scaled the business, formerly known as Ricardo Defense, from a pre-profit startup into a $157 million annual revenue enterprise. He also built and led a workforce of more than 230 employees across 30 U.S. and international sites.

During his tenure, Gryczan conceived and directed multi-hundred-million-dollar defense programs. Notably, he played a key role in securing a multi-year $500 million Congressional modernization program by forging partnerships with key stakeholders, including OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers, and government leaders, to align industry capabilities with Army priorities.

In his new role, Gryczan will lead Kodiak's defense vertical, overseeing strategy, customer engagement, and program execution across defense programs. He will lead Kodiak's continued expansion into the defense market, focusing on integrating the Kodiak Driver, the company's AI-powered autonomous driving system, into a wide range of vehicles for military use. His experience scaling defense organizations, aligning technology roadmaps with Pentagon priorities, and transitioning commercial technologies into mission-ready solutions enhances Kodiak's work delivering autonomous capabilities for national security applications.

"Chet understands how to build a durable defense business, combining operational credibility and deep customer trust with financial discipline," said Don Burnette, Founder and CEO of Kodiak. "He has deep experience bringing advanced technology to military programs and has done it at scale. Chet's leadership strengthens our ability to execute for our defense customers while expanding our defense portfolio."

Today, the Kodiak Driver is making deliveries day and night for Atlas Energy Solutions in the Permian Basin of West Texas and eastern New Mexico, without a driver in the cab. Kodiak has applied this expertise in commercial autonomous trucking to establish itself as a trusted dual-use autonomy partner for the U.S. military. In 2022, Kodiak was selected for a contract with the U.S. Army to deliver an end-to-end autonomous solution for the Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) program, under which it received approximately $30 million. Most recently, the U.S. Marine Corps awarded Kodiak a contract to integrate its autonomous driving technology into the Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary Fires (ROGUE-Fires) carrier ground vehicle. These contracts demonstrate the Kodiak Driver's adaptability for both commercial and defense applications.

"Kodiak has already demonstrated that its autonomous system can operate in demanding military environments and deliver measurable capability," said Gryczan. "I joined Kodiak to help build on that foundation and scale our defense vertical and the company's impact. This role brings together my career focus on adapting advanced commercial technologies for defense use with Kodiak's proven autonomous platform and growing defense footprint."

About Kodiak AI, Inc.

Kodiak AI was founded in 2018 and is a leading provider of AI-powered autonomous vehicle technology that is designed to help tackle some of the toughest driving jobs. Kodiak's driverless solution can help address the critical problem of safely transporting goods in the face of unprecedented supply chain challenges. Kodiak's vision is to become the trusted world leader in autonomous ground transportation. Kodiak is committed to a safer and more efficient future for all through the commercialization of driverless trucking at scale. To that end, Kodiak developed the Kodiak Driver, a virtual driver that combines advanced AI-powered software with modular and vehicle-agnostic hardware designed to help address Kodiak's customers' needs. The Kodiak Driver is not just an idea—it is operating without a human driver today. Kodiak serves customers in both commercial trucking and the public sector. In 2024, Kodiak believes it achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first company to deploy customer-owned and -operated driverless trucks in commercial service. The Kodiak Driver is also being utilized in the public sector, where Kodiak believes it can support national security initiatives and critical government applications.

Kodiak's press kit with videos and images can be found HERE.

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: expectations related to Kodiak's continued expansion into the defense market, 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; 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; and delays in Kodiak's operational roadmap with key partners and customers. 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. In addition, this press release contains certain information about the historical performance of Kodiak. You should not view information related to the past performance of Kodiak as indicative of future results.

Kodiak Media Contacts

Daniel Goff

+1-646-515-3933, dan@kodiak.ai

Stacy Morris

+1-310-415-9188, stacy.morris@futuristacommunications.com

Kodiak AI Investor Relations

Lauren Sloane

The Blueshirt Group for Kodiak

Lauren@blueshirtgroup.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1836d1da-1027-445c-9609-0f6f55110ea5

Kodiak AI Appoints Chet Gryczan to Lead Its Defense Vertical