Kodiak AI and Charger Logistics have launched autonomous freight service on the 435-mile lane between Charger’s terminals in Dallas and Laredo, Texas, the businesses introduced Thursday. The vehicles haul refrigerated and dry van freight for client packaged items and meals and beverage prospects. The primary supply ran Sept. 8.
A security driver is behind the wheel for now. The businesses plan to maneuver the lane to driverless operations as soon as Kodiak completes its security case.
Kodiak’s long-haul Autonomy Readiness Measure, which tracks the share of claims and proof in that security case, reached 96% on the finish of September. That was up from 93% on the finish of August and 84% in February. The corporate plans to launch long-haul driverless service by the tip of 2026 on its Dallas-Houston lane alongside Interstate 45. Its driverless vehicles have operated in industrial service within the Permian Basin since December 2024.
Refrigerated and dry van freight to Laredo
Laredo is the highest-volume industrial land port of entry within the U.S., and the Charger lane is Kodiak’s first route serving it. The Port of Laredo dealt with greater than $350 billion in worldwide commerce in 2025, practically 40% of all U.S. commerce with Mexico, based on the Kodiak press launch.
Shopper packaged items and meals and beverage freight strikes in regular, high-volume flows tied to retail replenishment schedules, Kodiak stated, which makes predictable transit occasions and longer working hours value extra.
Charger is an asset-based service working within the U.S. and Mexico, with temperature-controlled freight amongst its core service traces. It runs its community on a proprietary transportation administration system and a set of in-house functions.
“Autonomy lets us construct a community that serves each our prospects and our drivers,” stated Andy Khera, president of Charger Logistics, within the announcement. “Combining our in-house TMS, managed transportation, and the Kodiak Driver creates a virtually absolutely automated ecosystem that provides our prospects long-term capability continuity via altering labor markets and freight demand, whereas bringing our drivers residence each night time.”
Growth into Charger’s fleet
Below its Driver-as-a-Service mannequin, Kodiak deploys the Kodiak Driver on vehicles its prospects personal and function. The businesses anticipate so as to add lanes in Charger’s community over time because the service integrates the Kodiak Driver into its personal fleet.
Charger additionally has an autonomous trucking settlement with Aurora Innovation on the identical lane. Aurora introduced in late July that Charger would deploy Aurora’s second-generation driverless vehicles between Dallas and Laredo. That deal, reported in August, is a transportation-as-a-service settlement, below which Aurora holds the U.S. Division of Transportation working authority, controls the truck and carries the insurance coverage.
“Charger got here to us figuring out what they wished from autonomy and what they should see earlier than scaling it,” stated Don Burnette, founder and CEO of Kodiak. “The Dallas–Laredo lane extends the Kodiak Driver into a brand new hall, and provides each corporations the working basis we have to scale driverless service.”
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