Aurora and Kodiak AI launch autonomous truck testing in California amid union lawsuit
The move marks a regulatory shift for the two tech firms, who previously focused operations in Texas, but has triggered legal challenges from Teamsters California over economic and safety impact assessments.
Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI have received permits from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to begin testing autonomous truck technology on public roads in the state. The approvals follow updated regulations approved on 28 April 2026, which lifted a previous ban on testing driverless vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds on public highways.
Kodiak AI has commenced testing with a small fleet of vehicles, primarily operating around its Mountain View office. The permits issued by the DMV mandate the presence of a human safety operator in each vehicle and prohibit operations on roads with posted speed limits of 25 miles per hour or less, unless the vehicle is on a direct route between destinations.
Both companies satisfied the DMV’s permitting criteria, which encompass safety protocols, insurance coverage, vehicle registration, and safety driver qualifications. The regulatory framework provides a pathway for these firms to test and eventually deploy autonomous heavy-duty vehicles within their home state, a market they had previously been unable to access due to earlier restrictions.
Prior to these developments, both Aurora and Kodiak focused their testing and deployment activities in Texas due to California’s previous ban on autonomous heavy-duty trucks. Aurora launched a self-driving truck service in Texas in May 2025, initially operating a Dallas-to-Houston route before expanding to include 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, later expanding to on-highway operations including the Dallas-to-Houston corridor.
The expansion into California has drawn immediate legal opposition. Teamsters California filed a lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court last week, alleging that the DMV circumvented laws requiring an assessment of economic impacts and safety risks before issuing the permits. The union argues that the agency failed to study and publicly disclose the potential consequences of allowing self-driving trucks on public roads.
