California Allows Self-Driving Truck Tests on Highways
California granted self-driving truck permits to Aurora and Kodiak; Kodiak began testing, and Teamsters sued the DMV.
Kodiak said it is starting with a handful of test trucks in California, primarily around its Mountain View office. Both companies applied under updated rules approved April 28 by the DMV, which regulates autonomous vehicles in the state. Those rules lifted a ban on driverless vehicles weighing over 10,000 pounds and provided a regulatory path for testing and eventual deployment of autonomous heavy-duty trucks.
The DMV said Kodiak and Aurora met its permitting criteria, including safety, insurance, vehicle registration, safety driver qualification and other requirements. The permits require a human safety operator behind the wheel and prohibit operation on roads with a posted speed limit of 25 mph or less, unless on a direct route between destinations.
The prospect continues to draw opposition. Last week, Teamsters California sued the DMV in Alameda County Superior Court, alleging the agency circumvented laws requiring it to study and publicly disclose possible economic impacts of allowing self-driving trucks, and failed to consider safety risks to motorists.
For the developers, the new rules allow testing and eventual deployment in their home state. Both companies are based in California but had focused on Texas because of the ban. Aurora launched a self-driving truck service in Texas in May 2025 on a Dallas-to-Houston route and has since added routes including Fort Worth-El Paso, El Paso-Phoenix, Fort Worth-Phoenix and Laredo-Dallas. Kodiak began commercial driverless truck operations in January 2025 in an off-road environment in West Texas’ Permian Basin, and later expanded to on-highway operations including Dallas-Houston.