First autonomous trucking lane between Houston and Oklahoma City launches

Logistics company Maersk and self-driving truck tech company Kodiak Robotics, Inc have announced the launch of a new commercial autonomous trucking lane.

In an October 5 announcement, the companies said that they are now operating the first commercial autonomous trucking lane between Houston and Oklahoma City. 

The companies are using self-driving truck technology to complete four round trips per week on a 24-hour-a-day, four-day-a-week basis between a Houston facility, where freight is loaded onto 53-foot trailers, and a distribution center in Oklahoma City. 

Maersk and Kodiak have been partners since November 2022 and are continuing to look for ways to grown their partnership.

“Since our founding, we have focused on developing an autonomous product that is easy for global innovation leaders to integrate into their networks, and Maersk is a perfect fit,” said Don Burnette, Founder and CEO, Kodiak. “Hauling commercial freight gives us the opportunity to work together to integrate Kodiak’s autonomous trucking solution into Maersk’s operations. As the first autonomous trucking company to establish this new commercial lane between Houston and Oklahoma City, we are demonstrating our team’s ability to introduce new lanes and bring new efficiencies to the entire logistics industry.”

“Teaming with Kodiak enables Maersk to stay at the forefront of innovative solutions,” said Erez Agmoni, Maersk’s global head of innovation – logistics & services. “Autonomous trucks will play an instrumental role in digitizing the supply chain. We expect self-driving trucks to ultimately become a competitive advantage for Maersk as we execute on our strategy to provide customers with a sustainable, end-to-end logistics solution across air, land and sea.”