diff --git a/build/lib/release.sh b/build/lib/release.sh
index 0482b61f4d4..6bc6624951e 100644
--- a/build/lib/release.sh
+++ b/build/lib/release.sh
@@ -216,6 +216,8 @@ function kube::release::package_node_tarballs() {
 
 # Package up all of the server binaries in docker images
 function kube::release::build_server_images() {
+  kube::util::ensure-docker-buildx
+
   # Clean out any old images
   rm -rf "${RELEASE_IMAGES}"
   local platform
diff --git a/hack/lib/util.sh b/hack/lib/util.sh
index 1e6e80ba7ec..748d5e588cc 100755
--- a/hack/lib/util.sh
+++ b/hack/lib/util.sh
@@ -707,14 +707,14 @@ function kube::util::ensure-cfssl {
   popd > /dev/null || return 1
 }
 
-# kube::util::ensure_dockerized
-# Confirms that the script is being run inside a kube-build image
+# kube::util::ensure-docker-buildx
+# Check if we have "docker buildx" commands available
 #
-function kube::util::ensure_dockerized {
-  if [[ -f /kube-build-image ]]; then
+function kube::util::ensure-docker-buildx {
+  if docker buildx >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     return 0
   else
-    echo "ERROR: This script is designed to be run inside a kube-build container"
+    echo "ERROR: docker buildx not available. Docker 19.03 or higher is required with experimental features enabled"
     exit 1
   fi
 }
diff --git a/test/images/image-util.sh b/test/images/image-util.sh
index c89c52e645d..60ddd613f2e 100755
--- a/test/images/image-util.sh
+++ b/test/images/image-util.sh
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ build() {
   fi
 
   kube::util::ensure-gnu-sed
+  kube::util::ensure-docker-buildx
 
   for os_arch in ${os_archs}; do
     splitOsArch "${image}" "${os_arch}"