Self-driving trucks begin testing on California highways

California has granted permits to Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI to test self-driving trucks on public roads, and Kodiak has already begun operating a small number of test vehicles near its Mountain View headquarters.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles issued the permits under rules approved on April 28, 2026 that lifted a ban on testing autonomous vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds. Both companies applied in spring 2026 and met the DMV's safety, insurance, vehicle-registration and safety-driver-qualification criteria, according to the agency. The rules require a human safety operator behind the wheel and prohibit operation on roads with speed limits of 25 miles per hour or less, except on a direct route between destinations.

Both companies, which are based in California, had focused testing in Texas because California had banned autonomous heavy-duty trucks. Aurora launched a self-driving truck service in Texas in May 2025 on a Dallas-to-Houston route and added routes including Fort Worth to El Paso, El Paso to Phoenix, Fort Worth to Phoenix, and Laredo to Dallas. Kodiak began commercial driverless truck operations in January 2025 in an off-road environment in West Texas' Permian Basin and expanded to on-highway routes, including Dallas to Houston.

Teamsters California sued the DMV on August 7, 2026, in Superior Court in Alameda County, alleging the agency circumvented laws requiring study and public disclosure of possible economic impacts and failed to consider safety risks to motorists.