The food supply chain, transportation and logistics industries are on the cusp of a technological revolution, and one of the most significant changes on the horizon is the rise of such emerging technologies as autonomous trucks. This is the broad assessment by a panel of executives who participated at the recent annual Food Shippers Conference in Palm Desert. 

Executives discuss the benefits and pitfalls of emerging trucking technologies. Pictured here at the recent annual Food Shippers Conference in Palm Desert, CA: Chris Caplice, Senior Research Scientist, MIT and Chief Scientist, DAT; Zac Andreoni, Vice President of Business Development, Aurora Innovation; Andrew Culhane, Chief Commercial Officer, Torc Robotics; and Michael Wiesinger, Vice President of Commercialization and General Manager-Transportation Sector, Kodiak.

What’s All The Buzz About Autonomous Trucking? 

Driving 11 hours a day is both demanding and uncertain. That’s part of why the industry faces tremendous difficulties attracting and retaining professional truck drivers. But the heavy increase in consumer demands, particularly in the food industry, trucking has to move more freight than ever. 

Executives on the panel discussed that not only will autonomous trucks help to address this increasing demand but also can improve safety and efficiency of moving freight, help companies with private or for-hire fleets to scale operations, and ultimately increase revenue and profit. 

Aurora: Commercial Driverless Trucking in Texas 

As these vehicles transition from prototype to widespread deployment, their impact on food shipping—one of the most time-sensitive and high-volume logistics sectors in North America—will be profound, according to Andreoni. Since the panel discussion at the conference, Aurora has successfully launched its commercial self-driving trucking service in Texas. Following the closure of its safety case, Aurora began regular driverless customer deliveries between Dallas and Houston in May 2025. Since that time, the Aurora Driver has completed over 1,200 miles without a driver. The milestone makes Aurora the first company to operate a commercial self-driving service with heavy-duty trucks on public roads. Aurora plans to expand its driverless service to El Paso, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona by the end of this year. 

Aurora’s flagship product, the Aurora Driver, is an SAE L4 self-driving system that is first being deployed in long-haul trucking. Trucking is a trillion dollar industry in the U.S. but it faces challenges, including an aging driver population with high turnover rates, skyrocketing operating costs, and underutilized assets. These intensify every year, making the value proposition of autonomy – a solution that will offer safe, reliable capacity without an impact to jobs – highly attractive to the trucking industry. 

Aurora’s launch customers are Uber Freight, a market-leading enterprise technology company powering intelligent logistics, and Hirschbach Motor Lines, a veteran-owned carrier that delivers time- and temperature-sensitive freight. Both companies have had long-standing supervised commercial pilots with Aurora. 

Torc: Leveraging AI in Autonomous Trucking 

All executives on the panel agree that artificial intelligence is having a significant impact on autonomous trucking. The consensus is that AI is the driving force behind autonomous trucks, enabling these trucks to perceive their environment, make real-time decisions, and navigate safely. Advanced AI algorithms process data from sensors like cameras, radar, and lidar to detect obstacles, interpret traffic conditions, and follow routes. Machine learning helps these systems improve over time by learning from past experiences. AI also powers predictive maintenance, fuel optimization, and dynamic route planning, making autonomous trucks safer, more efficient, and more reliable in transporting goods like food. 

“We refer to our AI software suite as Torc’s Virtual Driver—our advanced approach on seeing, thinking, and acting for self-driving trucks,” says Culhane. “This combines cutting edge end-to-end learning and verifiable AI with algorithmic redundancy that allows Torc to quickly evolve and scale to interpret the world around it, as well as adapt and absorb new sensor technologies and customer routes.” 

When speaking about autonomous trucking in general, Culhane emphasizes that it has to show the benefit to the fleets using it. “Whether it’s safety, reliability, service levels, costs or whatever, if you can’t show the benefit you’re left asking the question: What’s the value?” 

Torc is not just working on the software and hardware, Culhane explains: “We are working closely with fleets to better understand their needs, their existing network infrastructure, and their pain points, so that we have the right application and tooling when the autonomous trucks are on the road.” 

Daimler Trucks announced its agreement to acquire a majority stake in Torc Robotics in 2019 to accelerate the development of Level 4 autonomous trucks in the U.S. market. Industry observers suggest that Torc’s extensive experience in autonomous vehicle technology compliments Daimler’s expertise in truck manufacturing. 

The Daimler Truck eCascadia autonomous electric truck was previewed at the conference. Built on the all-electric Freightliner eCascadia platform, it combines battery-electric propulsion with Level 4 autonomous driving technology and is equipped with advanced sensors and AI-powered systems by Torc Robotics for safe, driverless highway operations.

Kodiak: Single-Platform Automated Driving System 

The Kodiak Driver combines AI, modular hardware, and offboard services into a single, integrated platform—built for a wide variety of vehicles and designed for maximum efficiency and scale, according to Wiesinger. This leads to increase reliability, scalability, and efficiency while continuously learning across domains. The truck has logged more than 2.6 million autonomous miles in real-world conditions and has been developed for scalability and adaptability to all vehicle types. Some of the key features to Kodiak’s technology include: 

• Fully Active Driverless Semi-Truck Operations
• Commercial Trucking Business Generating Recurring-Revenue Today: Kodiak’s Driver-as-a- Service business model charges customers either a per-truck or per-mile recurring license fee.
• Strong Customer Traction Across Multiple Target Applications. Kodiak’s partner-first approach has resulted in collaborations with major industry players including Bridgestone, C.R. England, J.B. Hunt, Martin Brower, Werner Enterprises.
• Kodiak also is working with the U.S. Department of Defense to adapt autonomous technology for U.S. Army vehicles. 

The Future of Trucking 

Autonomous and electric trucks represent a transformative shift in the food supply chain, offering a powerful combination of efficiency, sustainability, and reliability. By reducing emissions and operating costs while ensuring consistent, around-the-clock delivery, these technologies address the industry’s growing demand for speed, safety, and environmental responsibility. The future of food logistics will not be just automated; it will be electric and intelligently connected. 

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