The California DMV issued its first heavy-duty autonomous vehicle testing permits to Kodiak AI and Aurora Innovation, confirmed by Kodiak in a company release on 14 August. It is the first time autonomous trucks above 10,000 lbs have been allowed on California public roads.

What the permit actually allows

Testing with a human safety operator behind the wheel. Roads must be posted above 25 mph, except on a direct route between destinations. There is no paid freight authority and no driver-out permission. This is phase one of a three-phase DMV path toward driverless deployment — the lowest rung on the ladder.

The list settles it

The DMV's public permit-holder page lists AURORA OPERATIONS, INC. and KODIAK AI under Testing with a Driver and nothing else. No driverless testing entry, no deployment entry. Any framing along the lines of "driverless trucks now on California highways" is contradicted by the state's own register.

Do not blend the states

Both companies already run driverless commercial operations — in Texas, under entirely different rules. Reading the California permit through those operations makes it look like a far larger step than it is. Kodiak says it has started running "a handful" of test trucks, mainly around its Mountain View office; neither company disclosed truck counts or mileage.

Why it still matters

California banned heavy autonomous vehicles for years, which meant the largest freight market in the United States was closed to the technology regardless of how it performed elsewhere. The 28 April 2026 rules reopened it. CEO Don Burnette framed the permit as letting Kodiak "begin the first phase of scaling autonomous trucking coast-to-coast" — the coast-to-coast part being the point, since a national network with a California-shaped hole in it is not a network.

The unresolved challenge

The Teamsters' California branch has sued the DMV over the rules, arguing it failed to adequately study economic and safety impacts. The permits are live while that litigation proceeds, so the regulatory footing here is newer and less settled than the robotaxi framework alongside it.