Self-driving trucks get a green light in California and a major manufacturer deal
California just let autonomous 18-wheelers onto public roads for testing, while Einride and truck maker DAF struck a deal to build self-driving big rigs at scale.
What happened: California's DMV issued its first permits letting autonomous trucks over 10,000 pounds test on public roads, going to startups Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI. Kodiak has already begun running test trucks near its Mountain View office. Separately, autonomous freight company Einride announced a partnership with DAF, the European truck brand owned by Kenworth and Peterbilt's parent PACCAR, to build Einride's Level 4 self-driving system directly into DAF's electric truck lineup, from urban delivery trucks up to long-haul rigs.
Why it matters: Trucking has struggled with driver shortages and rising, unpredictable fuel costs for years. Companies see autonomy paired with electric power as a way to keep freight moving more cheaply and predictably. California had banned heavy autonomous vehicles until a rule change in April, so this is the first real test of self-driving trucks in a state with some of the country's busiest freight corridors and, until now, some of its strictest limits.
How it works, plainly: California still requires a human safety driver behind the wheel during testing, and companies can't test on roads with speed limits of 25 mph or under unless it's the only route available. Einride's system is rated Level 4, meaning the truck can drive itself without a human inside for its approved routes, though a remote operator can still be involved. Building it into DAF's factory-made trucks, rather than retrofitting, is meant to make scaling up production faster and cheaper.
The rollout: Aurora already runs autonomous trucks in Texas on routes like Fort Worth-to-El Paso and Laredo-to-Dallas, and is now extending testing to its home state. Einride says it's already the first to run Level 4 trucks on public roads in Europe and on private roads in Ohio; the DAF deal is meant to take that from pilot numbers to real fleet volumes. None of this is driverless at commercial scale yet, and timelines for that remain unclear.