Kodiak Signs Binding Deal to Equip 75 Trucks for DTL’s Driverless Fleet

Kodiak AI has signed a binding contract to equip 75 trucks for DTL Transport, extending its customer-owned model to interstate freight. DTL will own and operate the vehicles and pay Kodiak by the mile to use its Kodiak Driver system.

The companies announced the agreement Oct. 28 at 9 a.m. ET (13:00 UTC). DTL plans to use the trucks on routes connecting Dallas with El Paso and Atlanta. Kodiak said it has tested both corridors. The announcement gave no deployment start date or contract value.

The deal uses Kodiak’s Driver-as-a-Service model. Customers own and operate their trucks while licensing Kodiak’s driving technology, with fees tied to miles traveled. Kodiak described the DTL contract as the first publicly announced definitive agreement for an interstate trucking company to operate driverless trucks in its own fleet.

The agreement extends a model Kodiak introduced with Atlas Energy Solutions in December 2024. Atlas operates trucks using Kodiak’s system in the Permian Basin, an industrial setting. As of June 30, 2026, Kodiak’s system was integrated into 35 Atlas trucks, and Kodiak had committed to expand that fleet to 100 by mid-2027. The Atlas deployment preceded the DTL agreement as a customer-owned commercial operation.

The two companies launched a California pilot on Sept. 22 to move perishable cargo along a roughly 225-mile Fresno–Los Angeles route that used State Route 99 and I-5 for most of the trip. A human safety driver remained behind the wheel during that initial work. The pilot was separate from the driverless fleet covered by the new contract.

Kodiak also plans to begin driverless highway service for IKEA on Interstate 45 between Dallas and Houston by the end of 2026.