Autonomous driving technology company Kodiak AI, Inc. and DTL Transport Inc. — a California trucking company specializing in cross-country runs distributing produce — have started testing self-driving vehicles in the Golden State.
In a press release shared last week, the companies stated that Kodiak received a heavy-duty Autonomous Vehicle Testing permit in August from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
For those worried about safety, a human safety driver will remain behind the wheel during the companies' initial work together, the press release stated.
"We look forward to demonstrating the benefits of this transformative technology with DTL Transport and the impact it can have on grocery distribution," he added.
The route spans approximately 225 miles, mostly on California State Route 99 and Interstate 5.
Oct 2, 2026 · via autos.yahoo.com
When fully automated, legal and truly driverless trucks are a functionality reality, who needs trucking companies, truck drivers, even traditional truck makers anymore?
Recent driverless/autonomous trucking developments might underscore the implied point.
Driverless trucks at scale might never hit truly specialized and/or permitted loads, including some of Jordan's company's 900 trucks' work in heavy haul, he acknowledged.
Public driverless acceptance a ways out For now, all panelists suggested, the general public seems at one with truck drivers who fear driverless prospects.
Driverless trucks, he said, "inevitably," will "find an application."
Oct 2, 2026 · via overdriveonline.com
Dive Brief: Kodiak AI plans to launch an unsupervised driverless long-haul service between Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston with retailer Ikea by the end of 2026, the company announced Tuesday.
The company kicked off its long-haul launch program last month from its hub in Lancaster, Texas, running trucks with a safety observer on board.
Dive Insight: Kodiak has been working toward a driverless long-haul launch since Q4 of 2025, shortly after it went public.
Kodiak considers itself ready for driverless service once that metric reaches 100% — a threshold its industrial fleet has already met.
Kodiak has hauled freight between the two metro areas since 2019 with safety drivers in the cab.
Oct 2, 2026 · via supplychaindive.com
Dive Brief: Einride will build the next generation of its autonomous driving system on Nvidia’s Hyperion platform, according to a Sept. 21 press release.
Dive Insight: The partnership comes as Einride races to reach the scale it needs to break even.
Einride estimates about 80% of that demand could be automated in the medium term as its autonomous technology matures.
“We have the customers, the operational experience and the technology,” said Henrik Green, CTO at Einride, in the September release.
“Building the next generation of the Einride Driver on the NVIDIA Hyperion platform, will enable us to scale autonomous deployment across a freight network that's already serving customers today.”
Oct 2, 2026 · via truckingdive.com
By ensuring reliable operations and easing supply chain bottlenecks, Venti’s trucks can reduce transportation costs 40-70% within logistics operations.
"America's supply chain is about to get its first truly autonomous fleet,” said Heidi Wyle, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Venti Technologies.
We are bringing that expertise to revolutionize the U.S. supply chain.”
Operational Performance and Market Context Supply chain inefficiencies are estimated to be $600 billion per year.
Automation in the supply chain lowers costs, ensures reliability, improves safety, and helps relieve bottlenecks.
Oct 2, 2026 · via manilatimes.net
GM CEO Mary Barra, once bullish in forecasting that self-driving cars would arrive quickly, is more measured now.
The site crashed within a week as 30,000 people flocked to a program that could tell you how much of a piece of online writing was produced by AI.
Less than four years later, GPTZero has more than 20 million registered users, $30 million in annual recurring revenue, and a new parent company.
Notably, City was fined €60 million ($67 million) in 2014, also for breaking UEFA’s financial rules.
Supply-chain risk management firm Overhaul has tracked more than $150 million in AI equipment cargo losses since it began tracking the data.
Oct 2, 2026 · via fortune.com
After four years of testing autonomous freight with a safety driver behind the wheel, Ikea is preparing to go fully driverless in Texas using Kodiak’s autonomous driving technology.
The launch comes as autonomous freight moves beyond small-scale pilots and into day-to-day operations.
What driverless freight could mean for Ikea With Ikea, Kodiak is taking that technology from an industrial setting to a major interstate freight lane.
Other companies expand driverless freight Retailers and consumer brands are increasingly using autonomous trucks for middle-mile routes.
More recently, in June, PepsiCo signed a multiyear agreement with Gatik to expand autonomous freight across its North American supply chain.
Oct 2, 2026 · via digitalcommerce360.com
Kodiak landed IKEA as its driverless launch shipper partner, with a long-haul rollout targeted by the end of the year.
#AutonomousTrucking #Kodiak #PrePass Kodiak Robotics has designated IKEA as its launch partner for driverless long-haul trucking service, with a planned commercial debut before the end of 2025.
Kodiak has been delivering IKEA freight daily from Houston to a distribution point near Frisco, Texas, for the past four years, with a safety driver behind the wheel.
That operational history informed the decision to make IKEA the anchor partner for driverless deployment, said Daniel Goff, vice president of external affairs at Kodiak.
Kodiak’s timeline calls for the first driverless IKEA run before year-end, with broader scaling through 2027.
Oct 1, 2026 · via freightwaves.com
Tekmodo has introduced CargoBright, a new brand for its translucent roof coils and panels.
The CargoBright family gives OEMs flexible and rigid options for bringing natural light into cargo areas.
CargoBright is designed to diffuse daylight across the cargo area while performing as a working vehicle roof.
Tekmodo works with manufacturers to select a roof construction based on vehicle structure, bonding system, and daylighting requirements.
“A translucent roof has to do more than let light in.
Oct 1, 2026 · via truckinginfo.com
Autonomous solution for mining vehicle supplier EACON has announced a rapid rise in the number of battery-electric trucks equipped with its Orcastra autonomous haulage solution.
The number of battery-electric installations of its autonomous haulage system has increased from 800 in March 2026 to over 1500 in early September.
Over 260 XCMG mining trucks are already operating with EACON's autonomous haulage solution in China across mining projects spanning a range of commodities, with orders for more than 100 additional trucks set to be deployed.
Such considerations are factored into EACON’s fleet management technology solution, along with battery levels, predicted energy consumption, charging station availability and production requirements.
Eacon has supplied its solution to a fleet of 60 battery-electric autonomous trucks at Zijin Mining’s Julong Copper Mine.
Oct 1, 2026 · via miningdigital.com
"AWS cloud services enhance Kodiak's ability to launch and scale our driverless operations safely and reliably," said Don Burnette, Founder and CEO, Kodiak.
As Kodiak extends its safety validation efforts, AWS's cloud infrastructure supports the compute-intensive simulation work behind BreakPoint, Kodiak's in-house, AI-powered safety validation tool.
Further, AWS provides Kodiak the ability to scale its GPU compute capacity needed to refine the AI models that power Kodiak Driver, the company's autonomous driving system.
"Getting autonomous driving right demands enormous compute power — especially when it comes to safety validation.
"As Kodiak moves toward driverless service on public highways, AWS provides the backbone to do it safely and at scale."
Oct 1, 2026 · via finance.yahoo.com
T&E says markets where electric trucks can already offer a financial advantage account for 46% of new heavy-truck sales in the EU.
In France, current subsidies of up to €107,000 per electric truck help produce savings of around €50,000 over five years.
T&E assumes a European 5-LH diesel truck costs €120,000 to buy, compared with €265,000 for a European battery-electric model and €210,000 for a Chinese electric truck.
Germany, for example, currently exempts zero-emission trucks from road tolls until June 2031 and imposes a CO2 charge on diesel trucks.
T&E also assumes depot charging, with a 150 kW charger shared by two electric trucks overnight.
Oct 1, 2026 · via trans.info
A four-year collaboration will reach a milestone later this year when Kodiak AI hauls freight for.Swedish furniture maker IKEA with no one in the cab of the truck.
The autonomous trucking company Tuesday said it will haul IKEA Supply freight on a 219-mile stretch of Interstate 45 in Texas.
Kodiak and Ikea started their collaboration four years ago, during which Kodiak delivered more than 1,300 loads and logged more than 750,000 miles while autonomously carrying IKEA goods with a safety observer aboard.
"Together, we’ve grown to understand how autonomous driving technology can improve safety and enhance reliability throughout the IKEA supply chain.
That is “driverless truck” in Swedish, according to Kodiak.
Oct 1, 2026 · via truckersnews.com
It also reminded everyone that America’s air traffic control system runs on outdated equipment funded by a dysfunctional Congress.
Part of the air traffic control system that helps guide planes in and out of Philadelphia, Newark, and other busy Northeast airports had an aging telecommunications circuit fail.
Yet, the day after the outage, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the FAA needs tens of billions more to fix air traffic control.
The FAA has a conflict of interest: it provides air traffic control and oversees itself on aviation safety.
In 1987, New Zealand became the first country to separate air traffic control from its safety regulator.
Oct 1, 2026 · via reason.org
Kodiak AI and Fresno-based DTL Transport launched the pilot Sept. 22, using autonomous trucks to move perishable loads from Fresno to a Los Angeles distribution center.
The roughly 225-mile run takes the trucks along major California arteries, including State Route 99 and Interstate 5.
A human safety driver must remain in the cab, and the company is not currently allowed to operate fully driverless commercial trucks.
Autonomous trucking companies must rack up at least 500,000 miles with a safety driver before they can apply for fully driverless commercial deployment.
“California’s comprehensive autonomous vehicle regulations are a major unlock for freight innovation in our home state,” Kodiak founder and CEO Don Burnette said.
Oct 1, 2026 · via nypost.com
That shift is reshaping ACT Research’s zero-emission vehicle forecast.
The research firm says its projections now rely on financial viability and technology improvements — factors that influence fleet purchasing decisions regardless of emissions mandates.
ACT’s September 2026 Outlook Plus report points to continued, but gradual, adoption of zero-emission commercial vehicles.
ACT’s earlier forecasts were heavily influenced by emissions regulations, particularly California’s Advanced Clean Trucks rule, which required manufacturers to sell increasing percentages of zero-emission trucks.
A Modest Increase for Class 8 Electric Trucks ACT’s overall outlook for cumulative zero-emission vehicle adoption changed little from its June 2026 forecast.
Sep 30, 2026 · via truckinginfo.com
The state of autonomous trucking With Waymo operating in ten US metropolitan areas, why have we seen much slower progress in autonomous trucking than in light-duty vehicles?
The autonomous tech company IMAMS Technology described the rule about warning triangles as the “one thing standing in [autonomous trucks’] way from being truly driverless.”
I’d say it’s 18 to 24 months until you start to see this incredible increase in the adoption of autonomous trucking.
Goldman too sees 2028 as the year when AV trucking will be competitive with traditional trucking: while the cost-per-mile for AV trucking is projected to drop from $8.56 in 2025 to $2.03 in 2030, the cost-per-mile for traditional trucking will jump from $2.55 to $2.84 in that same period.
When autonomous trucking companies talk about safety, it is these things they have in mind.
Sep 30, 2026 · via phenomenalworld.org
“For the first time, a Torc truck will be able to drive itself on public roads — not on a test track — and without a safety driver in the cab,” she said.
Why Daimler Is Starting in North America The first driverless freight will run on long-haul lanes in North America.
“Why North America?
How DTNA and Torc Split the Work “At Daimler Truck North America, we’re developing the autonomous-ready truck platform with built-in redundancy for critical systems like steering and braking,” Rådström said.
Factory-Fit Hardware for Autonomous Trucks Daimler wants the autonomy hardware installed when the truck is built.
Sep 30, 2026 · via freightwaves.com
Safely scaling autonomous trucks requires preparing the technology for situations it may rarely encounter on public roads.
How Simulation Helps Train Autonomous Drivers He pointed to construction zones as one example.
That allows its autonomous driver to encounter combinations that even experienced human drivers may rarely see.
Ron called the company’s simulation technology “a huge accelerator in terms of safety.”
He compared the process to creating “a sort of a driver license” for an autonomous driver, as it has to pass a series of tests before being put into service.
Sep 30, 2026 · via fleetequipmentmag.com
Kodiak Driverless Truck – For four years, Kodiak and IKEA Supply have built a blueprint for reshaping freight transportation with autonomous driving technology.
Together, we’ve grown to understand how autonomous driving technology can improve safety and enhance reliability throughout the IKEA supply chain.
Ahead of our launch, Kodiak is completing our highway launch safety case for driverless long-haul operations.
Our work scaling driverless technology throughout freight transportation will continue with IKEA and others after this upcoming launch.
Mile by mile, we intend to build trust and gain traction until driver-out service is a routine and everyday part of the long-haul trucking landscape.
Sep 30, 2026 · via electronicsmedia.info