Kodiak AI and Charger USA have begun autonomous freight hauling on a 435-mile route between Dallas and Laredo, Texas, with the first delivery completed on September 8, 20261. Trucks equipped with the Kodiak Driver are carrying refrigerated and dry freight for consumer packaged goods and food and beverage customers, operating with a safety driver behind the wheel.
The route marks Kodiak AI's first service to Laredo, a crossing that handled nearly 40 percent of all United States trade with Mexico and over $350 billion in international trade in 2025.
Kodiak AI deploys its autonomous driving system through a Driver-as-a-Service model, placing the Kodiak Driver on trucks owned and operated by its customers. Charger USA, an asset-based carrier operating across North America, owns and runs the trucks on this lane.
The companies intend to transition the route to fully driverless operations once Kodiak AI completes its safety case, described as an evidence-backed assessment of safe operation in a specific setting. Kodiak AI's long-haul Autonomy Readiness Measure, which tracks materially complete safety-case claims and evidence, reached 96 percent at the end of September 2026.
Kodiak AI plans to launch long-haul driverless service by the end of 2026. The company's driverless technology has been deployed in commercial service in the Permian Basin since December 2024, where customer-owned trucks operate with no one in the cab.
Charger USA and Kodiak AI expect to expand the collaboration to additional lanes in Charger USA's network over time as Charger USA integrates the Kodiak Driver into its own fleet.
ANALYSIS Reaching Laredo puts Kodiak AI's autonomous stack on a corridor that connects directly to the largest U.S.–Mexico trade gateway, a higher-stakes commercial proof point than the company's existing Permian Basin operations. The 96 percent readiness figure and end-of-2026 driverless target compress the timeline between the current safety-driver phase and fully unattended long-haul runs.