NederlandsHaulier to run 75 driverless lorries on motorways
From 2028, the US company Kodiak AI will supply its self-driving technology for 75 lorries of the haulier DTL Transport. It is the first binding agreement by a long-haul haulier to run driverless lorries from its own fleet on motorways.
The US company Kodiak AI has made a binding agreement with the freight haulier DTL Transport. From 2028, 75 DTL lorries are to drive on public motorways without a driver, using Kodiak's driving technology. According to Kodiak, it is the first time a long-distance haulier has made a firm commitment to put driverless lorries into its own fleet. Kodiak announced the deal on 28 October 2026.
A different way of doing business
Until now, Kodiak mostly owned its self-driving lorries itself. The company ran them on its own and carried freight for customers such as Werner Enterprises and Roehl Transport on a few routes in Texas.
With DTL, it works differently. DTL buys and manages the lorries itself. Kodiak supplies only the "driver": the computer system with cameras and sensors that steers the lorry, called the Kodiak Driver. DTL pays a fixed fee based on the distance driven. This way Kodiak does not have to build a large fleet itself, and the technology can reach many hauliers faster. According to founder and chief executive Don Burnette, mid-sized hauliers such as DTL can add the new lorries to their fleets more easily than the very largest companies.
A trial run in California first
DTL is a family business from Fresno in California with more than 100 lorries. It has been carrying refrigerated and ordinary freight for more than 36 years, including for supermarket chains. In September 2026, a Kodiak lorry drove for DTL for about 360 kilometres with perishable goods between Fresno and Los Angeles. A safety driver was still in the cab. According to Kodiak, it was the first time in California that a heavy lorry carried real commercial goods on its own.
The 75 DTL lorries will run in the sunny south of the United States. They will start on the motorway between Dallas and El Paso in Texas, and between Dallas and Atlanta. Kodiak has already tested on both routes.
More driverless lorries on the way
Kodiak wants to start driving truly without a driver in December 2026 on the motorway between Dallas and Houston, with goods from IKEA. In addition, 35 driverless lorries with the Kodiak Driver are already running for the company Atlas Energy Solutions. They do not drive on public roads, but on private land in an oil and gas area in west Texas. Kodiak wants to reach 100 lorries there by mid-2027.
Kodiak does not say what the deal with DTL is worth. Based on earlier expectations from the company itself, the technology site TechCrunch calculates at least 11.2 million dollars a year (about 10 million euros) once all the lorries are running.
What does this mean for the road to the singularity?
Machines that do independent work in the real world are an important step towards a future full of smart technology. Steering a lorry along a motorway, day and night, among other traffic, is work of this kind. That an ordinary haulier is now committing to 75 of these lorries shows that the technology is growing out of its trial phase. Because Kodiak only rents out the driving technology, many hauliers will be able to join later without building such a system themselves. The coming years must show how safe and reliable this is on a large scale.
What is the technological singularity? Read the explanation →
