When AVI-SPL launched autonomous freight operations between Dallas and Houston, the technology solutions provider made a deliberate choice: announce what they had already accomplished, not what they hoped to do. “We think that a lot of people are, especially with AI, saying, ‘This is what we’re going to do [and] we hope to do this,’” said Jeremy Codiroli, vice president of global supply chain at AVI-SPL, in an interview with FreightWaves. “And we wanted to really make a point of saying, ‘We did this. We are doing this. This is not a dream, this is real life.” AVI-SPL’s commercial autonomous freight operations began the week of June 8, 2026. For Codiroli, the launch represents a forward-thinking approach to risk management in an industry facing mounting pressure. “This is really a future-focused, risk management solution,” Codiroli said. “My supply chain team, we look out three to five years and say, what problems are we going to be trying to solve in three to five years, and can we try to solve them now?” Chief among those problems: driver headcount and difficulties with hiring and retention. That’s where Volvo’s self-driving VNL Autonomous semi truck and a novel transportation management system from Aurora Innovation enter the picture. Partnering up AVI-SPL partnered with Volvo Autonomous Solutions, leveraging its self-driving rig with the Aurora Driver TMS platform to automate a 239 mile route between Dallas and Houston – no driver required. The Volvo VNL Autonomous serves as the hardware backbone of the operation. Assembled at Volvo’s flagship New River Valley plant in Dublin, Virginia –the largest Volvo Trucks facility in the world– the vehicle was engineered with safety as the foundational design principle. According to Volvo Autonomous Solutions’ website, the truck features redundant systems across steering, braking, communication, computation, power management, energy storage and vehicle