Kodiak AI has secured its first binding commercial contract for driverless trucks on public highways, agreeing to deliver 75 self-driving big rigs to California carrier DTL Transport starting in 2028. DTL plans to deploy the trucks on interstate routes between Dallas and El Paso, and Dallas and Atlanta, where Kodiak has already conducted testing. The announcement comes ahead of Kodiak's plan to remove human safety operators from trucks in December for a driverless service hauling Ikea goods on Interstate 45.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-28
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
Thieves in Newark, California stole two trailers branded with PlusAI and Nvidia logos from outside PlusAI's warehouse, according to a police statement. The trailers, secured only with hand locks that were broken, actually contained about 20,000 pounds of sand each, used by PlusAI for simulated load testing rather than any valuable cargo. Police recovered both trailers with the sand intact, and no arrests have been made as the case remains under investigation.
wired.com
· 2026-09-25
An analysis argues that self-driving trucks and other autonomous 'physical AI' systems must work through the same set of trust-building questions that commercial aviation resolved over the past hundred years. Aviation once obsessed over engine count as a proxy for safety, a concern that eventually became irrelevant as reliability improved and regulation matured. The piece suggests robotics and autonomous vehicles are now at the start of a similar maturation curve.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-08-26
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