From 10,000 to 80,000 Lbs: California Just Dramatically Expanded Autonomous Truck Testing

California has eased restrictions on autonomous trucking, allowing vehicles up to 80,000 lbs for public-road testing. Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI have been approved for testing. The DMV updated rules in April to support heavy-duty autonomous vehicles.

Aurora Innovation (AUR) rose in premarket after it and Volvo Autonomous Solutions said they will launch a new 200-mile, five-day-a-week driverless trucking route between Dallas and Oklahoma City. The deal follows Aurora’s Hirschbach agreement. The article cites AUR up about 1.5% and mentions retail bullish sentiment and ongoing validation of Volvo’s VNL Autonomous.

Teamsters California sued California’s DMV to block amended autonomous-vehicle rules that would fast-track fully autonomous commercial trucks over 10,000 pounds on public roads. The union alleges the DMV bypassed required economic analysis under the California Administrative Procedure Act and seeks to halt enforcement. It cites Aurora Innovation’s driverless operations and disputes the DMV’s $5.8 million impact estimate versus claimed $288 million direct and $576 million indirect costs.

Aurora Innovation said it signed commercial agreements with Charger Logistics and Value Truck to deploy Aurora Driver self-driving trucks. Initial routes include Dallas to Laredo, Texas, and Fort Worth to Phoenix, Arizona. The company will integrate its Driver-as-a-Service system to support continuous long-haul operations and improve capacity and scheduling for time-sensitive freight, including pharmaceuticals and refrigerated goods.

Aurora Innovation said it has entered commercial scaling, launching a new driverless truck fleet and reporting customer wins. It expects upfitter Roush to ramp to a 1,000-truck annual run-rate in October and projects an $80M revenue run-rate exiting 2026. Aurora also cited Volvo pilot progress and plans for driverless operations in 1Q 2027, plus Q2 2026 cash of $1,217M and revenue of $2M.

Aurora Innovation (AUR) reported Q2 2026 revenue of $2M and a net loss of $270M, citing continued R&D and scaling. It reiterated 2026 revenue guidance of $14M to $16M and said it is allocated to end 2026 with 200 driverless trucks in operation. The company discussed commercial deployments, hardware kit ramp plans, and safety/regulatory validation.