Dive Brief:
- DTL Transport has signed a binding agreement to run Kodiak AI’s autonomous driving system on 75 driverless trucks that the carrier owns and operates, according to an Oct. 28 press release.
- Kodiak called it the first definitive commitment by a long-haul carrier to operate driverless trucks within its own fleet. Under Kodiak’s driver-as-a-service model, DTL will pay a per-mile fee to use the Kodiak Driver.
- The deal follows a pilot completed in September, during which the Kodiak Driver transported perishable goods for DTL about 225 miles between Fresno and Los Angeles on Interstate 5 and State Route 99. Kodiak said those were the first commercial loads moved autonomously by a Class 8 truck in California.
Dive Insight:
DTL will first deploy the trucks on two routes: Interstate 10 between Dallas and El Paso, Texas, and Interstate 20 between Dallas and Atlanta, both of which Kodiak has already tested. The companies plan to add more lanes over time, and are targeting 2028 to launch autonomous service, a Kodiak spokesperson said in an email to Trucking Dive.
The 75 autonomous trucks will be new additions to DTL’s operation, Kodiak said in the email. The carrier’s current fleet has 117 power units and employs 244 drivers, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration data, and specializes in cross-country team runs hauling dry and refrigerated freight for grocery chains, among other food shippers.
According to Kodiak, the new routes will allow DTL to operate beyond its current service-hour limits as federal hours-of-service rules cap how long a human driver can be behind the wheel.
“By integrating this technology into our fleet, complementing our experienced, professional workforce, we can expand capacity, enhance safety and drive innovation forward,” Lucky Dosanjh, president and CEO of DTL, said in the release.
Kodiak first put its driver-as-a-service model into commercial use in 2024 with Atlas Energy Solutions, which runs driverless trucks in the Permian Basin. As of June 30, the Kodiak Driver was installed on 35 Atlas-owned trucks, and Kodiak has committed to growing that fleet to 100 trucks by mid-2027, the release said.
“This binding agreement reinforces what I have said from the beginning: The Driver-As-A-Service business model is tailor-made for commercial trucking,” CEO Don Burnette said in the release.
In other long-haul news, Kodiak is aiming to launch a driverless highway service for Ikea by year-end along 219 miles of Interstate 45 between Dallas and Houston, as well as a 435-mile lane between Dallas and Laredo, Texas, for Charger USA.
