Kodiak AI and Charger USA have begun hauling freight on the 435-mile route between Charger’s terminals in Dallas and Laredo, Texas, with a safety driver behind the wheel. The first delivery ran on Sept. 8, carrying refrigerated and dry freight for consumer packaged goods and food and beverage customers.
This is Kodiak’s first lane into Laredo, the busiest commercial land port in the US. The port handled more than $350 billion in trade in 2025, nearly 40% of US trade with Mexico.
Kodiak sells its system as a service on trucks its customers own and operate. Charger, a cross-border carrier, plans to add routes as it integrates the system into its own fleet.
The companies plan to switch to driverless operations once Kodiak completes its safety case. Its long-haul Autonomy Readiness Measure, which tracks the share of safety claims and supporting evidence materially completed, reached 96% at the end of September. Kodiak has not given a date for removing the safety driver on this lane. Its separate target for driverless service by year-end applies to its Dallas-Houston route.
Charger is also preparing to use driverless trucks from Aurora on the same Dallas-Laredo lane, under an agreement signed in July. Unlike Kodiak’s service model, Aurora’s deal puts the company in control of the truck and its operation. Aurora holds the operating authority, controls the truck and carries the insurance. “Charger came to us knowing what they wanted from autonomy and what they need to see before scaling it,” Kodiak CEO Don Burnette said.
A five-year FMCSA exemption granted last week lets Level 4 carriers use cab-mounted warning beacons instead of reflective triangles through Oct. 2031.
