With more than 4,000 people reportedly killed in 2024 US crashes involving the largest trucks, a Bloomberg Opinion columnist has argued that driverless technology could reduce that toll. The debate centers on the driverless commercial operations already running in Texas by Aurora Innovation and Kodiak Robotics, and on the legal-liability questions that could slow their spread.
2026 · Autonomous Freight
Driverless Trucks Hit US Roads — No Safety Driver Aboard
With large-truck crashes killing thousands every year, Kodiak, Aurora, Gatik and Bot Auto are racing to remove the human from the cab — betting that machine judgment can make freight safer, route by route.
5,340
people killed in US large-truck crashes in 2024
+30%
rise in those deaths over the past decade
65–70%
of those killed were in other vehicles
Three companies, three niches
Each maker is proving driverless operation in a different setting.
Kodiak + Atlas
Permian Basin oilfield
First commercial driverless run with customer-owned Class 8 trucks — 28 trucks (Q1 2026), targeting a 100-truck order. Hauls frac sand around the clock.
Aurora
Sun Belt highways
250,000 driverless miles with zero collisions caused by the Aurora Driver. 500-truck deal with Hirschbach from 2027.
Gatik
Short-haul retail
Mid-size box trucks for retail delivery — completed an ~8-mile fully driverless PepsiCo run, avoiding pedestrians.
Aurora's driverless track record
250,000 miles run — and zero collisions caused by its own Driver.
0
collisions caused
Gen-2 hardware extends lidar range to 1,000m at half the cost ; observer-free operation planned from Q2 2026.
The case for
Removing human error — a leading cause of crashes. Closed, repetitive routes like the Permian point toward "commercial at scale."
The doubts
No human gut-instinct on black ice, fog, mountain roads or night dock work. One major crash could trigger a ban — Aurora was once asked to reinstate a safety observer.
Where it's headed: Driverless freight is launching on specific routes such as oilfields first, with broader highway use expected to advance gradually through 2026 and 2027 .
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