The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued a five-year exemption letting self-driving truck operators Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI use cab-mounted warning beacons instead of physically placed reflective triangles when a truck breaks down. The change addresses a rule that assumed a human driver would exit the vehicle to set out warning devices within 10 minutes of a breakdown, something autonomous trucks without drivers cannot do. Aurora had previously sued over the requirement and appealed to the D.C. Court of Appeals after an earlier denial.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-11
The trucking industry faces mounting safety concerns, including over 5,000 annual fatalities and a $604 million liability verdict against broker C.H. Robinson following a Supreme Court ruling allowing brokers to be sued for carrier accidents. Simultaneously, a crackdown on non-domiciled commercial driver's licenses and new English proficiency rules has tightened the labor market, raising wages and spot rates. Against this backdrop, autonomous trucking firms Aurora, Kodiak, and Waabi say their technology is ready for commercial scaling.
phenomenalworld.org
· 2026-10-09
Aurora Innovation is running fully autonomous semi trucks without safety drivers on two of the busiest freight corridors in Texas, I-45 between Houston and Dallas and I-20 between Fort Worth and El Paso. The company currently operates 20 driverless trucks and plans to expand to 200 by the end of the year, betting on a pay-per-mile 'driver as a service' model for freight customers.
cnbc.com
· 2026-09-22
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