Kodiak AI will deliver 75 self-driving trucks to DTL Transport starting in 2028, its first binding commercial deal for driverless big rigs that will run on public highways. DTL, a California midmarket trucking company hauling fresh produce and goods to grocery chains, plans to use the trucks on multiple interstate routes, starting with Dallas to El Paso and Interstate 20 between Dallas and Atlanta, both routes Kodiak has already tested.
The contract comes just ahead of Kodiak’s next milestone: removing human safety operators from the cab to begin a driverless highway service in December, initially carrying goods for Ikea on Interstate 45 between Dallas and Houston. Kodiak went public in September 2025 and its shares have fallen 87 percent from their opening day price.
The deal is Kodiak’s first on-highway customer under its driver as a service model, in which customers own and operate the trucks and Kodiak licenses its technology by the mile. Until now the company has mostly run a trucking as a service model, owning and operating trucks itself for customers including Charger USA, Roehl Transport and Werner Enterprises on routes in Texas, operations its chief executive Don Burnette described as still in pilot stage. Atlas Energy Solutions has been a driver as a service customer since 2024, with 35 driverless trucks in off-road service in the Permian Basin and as many as 100 expected by mid-2027.
Kodiak did not disclose the value of the DTL contract. TechCrunch calculated from the company’s 2025 investor presentation, which forecast annual recurring revenue of 150,000 to 190,000 dollars per truck at a licensing fee of about 0.97 dollars per mile, that the deal could generate at least about 11.2 million dollars in annual recurring revenue once all 75 trucks are delivered. That is an estimate from a forecast, not a contracted figure.