Self-driving trucks hit California highways as testing permits take effect
California has issued testing permits to two self-driving truck developers, with Kodiak already operating on public roads. A union has sued the DMV, arguing the agency skipped required impact studies.
California's Department of Motor Vehicles has granted permits to Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI to test self-driving trucks on public roads. Kodiak said it has already begun with a small number of test vehicles, mostly around its Mountain View office.
Both companies applied for the permits this spring after the DMV approved updated rules on April 28. The new regulations lifted a ban on testing driverless vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds on public roads and created a pathway for companies to eventually deploy autonomous heavy-duty trucks commercially.
The permits require a human safety operator to remain behind the wheel during testing. Vehicles are also barred from roads with a posted speed limit of 25 mph or less unless traveling on a direct route between destinations.
The move has drawn pushback. Last week, Teamsters California sued the state DMV in Superior Court in Alameda County. The union alleges the agency bypassed legal requirements to study and publicly disclose the potential economic impact of allowing self-driving trucks on public highways. It also claims the DMV ignored safety risks to motorists.
For the two companies, the new rules open the door to testing and future deployment in their home state. Both are based in California but had concentrated their testing and operations in Texas because of California's previous ban on autonomous heavy-duty trucks.
Aurora launched a self-driving truck service in Texas in May 2025, initially on a Dallas–Houston route. It has since added routes including Fort Worth–El Paso, El Paso–Phoenix, Fort Worth–Phoenix, and Laredo–Dallas. Kodiak started commercial driverless truck operations in January 2025 in an off-road area of West Texas's Permian Basin, and later expanded to highway routes, including between Dallas and Houston.
