A driverless freight service is planned for a 219-mile section of Interstate 45 in Texas later this year, carrying IKEA goods between the Houston and Dallas areas without a human in the cab.
The service will operate primarily between facilities in Houston and the Dallas area, forming part of an established 292-mile route linking IKEA’s distribution centre in Baytown with its store in Frisco. It is expected to become Kodiak’s first unsupervised long-haul operation on a public interstate.
The planned launch follows four years of autonomous deliveries for IKEA using a safety observer. During that period, more than 1,300 loads were completed over 750,000 miles, providing operational data on dispatch points, arrival timing, dock scheduling and vehicle maintenance.
Safety case remains critical
The deployment is dependent on completion of a highway safety case covering the defined operating area. The operator reported that 93% of the evidence and claims required for long-haul operations were materially complete at the end of August, compared with 84% in February. It expects to complete the process and begin driverless operations by the end of 2026.
The company has already conducted driverless deliveries between its Lancaster, Texas, hub and Houston, stating that the safety observer did not need to intervene, including on surface roads. It also operates driverless trucks commercially in the Permian Basin, although that fleet is not expected to move onto public roads until early 2027.
For logistics professionals, the project illustrates how autonomous road freight is likely to develop: through repeatable lanes, established shipper relationships and detailed validation of loading, delivery and roadside procedures. The use of a major European retailer’s freight also gives the trial relevance beyond the US, as retailers and carriers assess how driverless operations could affect long-haul capacity, driver deployment and distribution-network design.
