California Autonomous Truck Rules Demand a Million Test Miles

Permits, but not driverless semis

California has opened its highways to autonomous heavy trucks, but the trucks still have people behind the wheel. On April 28, 2026, the Department of Motor Vehicles adopted new regulations. They ended a long-standing ban on autonomous vehicles weighing more than 10,001 pounds and created a path for self-driving freight in the state.12 On August 13, the DMV granted testing permits to Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI. Neither company had been allowed to test heavy autonomous trucks in California before, even though both have major operations there.24

The word "greenlit" oversells what happened. Both permits cover supervised testing only, so a human safety operator has to stay in the driver's seat at all times.24 The Kodiak permit is only the first phase of a three-step process: testing with a driver, then testing without one, then commercial driverless deployment.22 For the first time, two well-funded companies are allowed to start collecting California road miles. Neither is allowed to remove the driver.

What happened on the road

Kodiak moved first with paying freight. On September 22 it started a pilot with DTL Transport, a Fresno carrier, moving perishable produce about 225 miles to a Los Angeles distribution center, mostly on State Route 99 and Interstate 5.22 The trucks carry a human safety driver, and both companies have said that will continue during the early phase of the partnership.23 Some local outlets called it the first time an autonomous truck has hauled freight on California public roads under the new rules. They also pointed out that the permit does not allow driverless testing or deployment.25

Aurora announced in mid-September that it had started supervised highway testing in the state. It was the company's first expansion beyond its Texas base, where it began commercial driverless service between Dallas and Houston in May 2025.24 The same report says Gatik and Plus.ai also hold permits under the expanded program.24

Investors did not cheer. Kodiak's stock fell 6.9% on the day it announced the DTL pilot.27 One plausible reading is that the market saw a supervised pilot as small news next to the driverless runs Kodiak already operates elsewhere.

The mileage requirement

The toughest part of the rules is the testing mileage. Light-duty vehicles must log 50,000 miles at each phase. Heavy-duty vehicles must log 500,000 miles at each phase, and companies must also file a structured safety case covering hardware, software and operations.1718 One legal analysis adds it up: a heavy truck needs at least 1,000,000 miles before commercial driverless deployment, at least 200,000 of them in California. A light-duty vehicle needs 100,000.13

Coverage describes the out-of-state allowance in different ways that turn out to agree. One outlet reports that up to 400,000 of the first 500,000 supervised miles can be driven outside California, so Aurora's Texas miles partly count.24 A second 500,000 driverless miles is then required before a company can apply for deployment.24 Taken together, the reports describe a framework that credits experience from other states but still requires a real amount of California driving.

Another law-firm review says California will be the only state that ties permits to a specific number of test miles. It also cites research suggesting autonomous vehicles would need hundreds of millions of miles or more to statistically prove their safety on fatalities and injuries.14 That argument works in both directions. Critics of mileage quotas can say a million miles proves little, while regulators can say a fixed number is at least a firm floor.

The obligations go beyond mileage:

• Safety cases are now mandatory and must address at least 14 safety areas. The DMV will evaluate them on substance and may bring in outside experts. That is a clear break from the voluntary self-assessments that NHTSA encourages.13
• The DMV keeps broad discretion. A deployment permit requires a finding that the system poses no "unreasonable risk," and the rules do not define that term.13
• Seven kinds of operational change require a permit modification, and those can bring new mileage and safety-case requirements.13
• Heavy trucks must stop at California Highway Patrol weigh stations and follow all state and federal commercial vehicle rules.16
• Supervised testing is barred on roads posted at 25 mph or below unless the truck is on a direct route between destinations. In practice, early operations stay on highway corridors.24

The legal and political risks

California's process is slow on its own terms, and it also faces two outside threats. On August 5, eight days before the permits were issued, Teamsters California asked the Alameda County Superior Court to overturn the rules. The union argues the DMV wrongly treated the regulation as "minor," in part by claiming it would eliminate no jobs. The state has an estimated 200,000 semi-truck drivers.24 If the court agrees and orders a full rulemaking, the process could take one to two years, and permits issued under the current rules could become invalid.24

The governor's race is the second threat. Xavier Becerra, described as the leading Democratic candidate, has said trucks still need drivers. Reports say he has committed to reversing the DMV rules if elected.24 Lawyers tracking the rules expected this. One firm wrote in June that the rules were unlikely to be the final word, pointing to the Teamsters' threat to sue and promises from policymakers to undo them.13 The history matters too. Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a 2023 bill that would have required human operators in autonomous trucks, which left the DMV to write the framework on its own.1224

Federal law could also change things. The SELF-DRIVE Act, now before Congress, would bar states from restricting autonomous systems in interstate commerce when a manufacturer has developed a safety case. Its chances of passing are uncertain.14

Other states move faster

Compared with Texas, California's timeline looks slow. Aurora told investors on September 23 that it expects more than 30,000 driverless trucks and over $5 billion in annual revenue by 2030. It expects to end 2026 with 200 trucks.21 Kodiak plans to take the safety observer out of the cab on I-45 in Texas by year end.21 The California pilots are a separate, slower track. Truck-industry coverage agrees that nothing in the current California permits allows that step.25

The conclusion is fairly direct. California has made itself a long-term option for autonomous freight, not a near-term market. In the meantime, the companies' growth targets depend mostly on Texas and other Sun Belt corridors.

What it means for Waymo

The April rules covered robotaxis as well as trucks, and Waymo works within the same tighter framework. Starting July 1, police can issue a notice of autonomous vehicle noncompliance, and manufacturers must respond within 72 hours, or 24 hours if an officer flags the case for priority review.14 Companies must answer first-responder calls within 30 seconds. Local officials can geofence emergency zones, and fleets must leave those zones within two minutes.18 The rules leave the separate Public Utilities Commission regime for robotaxis unchanged.13 An October 2026 state law also lets California fine robotaxi companies that get in the way of emergency services.1

None of this has slowed Waymo's growth. The company closed a $5 billion term loan on October 8, its first debt financing, led by PIMCO, Blackstone and Sixth Street.9 That came after a $16 billion equity round in February that valued Waymo at $126 billion.5 Waymo says the money supports long-term flexibility and responsible scaling.5

Reports describe Waymo's size differently. Several outlets say it now operates in 15 markets, with testing in London and Tokyo.610 Another report cites six metropolitan regions and about 400,000 weekly rides, which looks like older data, along with a target of 1 million paid rides per week by year end.4 One reference compilation lists 10 metro areas, 3,871 vehicles and 500,000 paid weekly rides as of June.1 The broad picture is consistent even if the exact numbers are not.

In California, Waymo reportedly has DMV and CPUC approval across the nine-county Bay Area, Sacramento and Yolo counties, and a large part of Southern California. The company says its expansion there will be gradual.1 Federal scrutiny is increasing as well. NHTSA has opened investigations into how Waymo vehicles interact with school buses, and the NTSB is reviewing related incidents.3

Our reading

Coverage of the trucking permits agrees on the facts: the regulations are real, the permits are real, and so are the safety drivers. It differs mostly in emphasis. Company releases and trade outlets present the change as a breakthrough, while legal and political coverage focuses on how easily it could be undone.2224

The second view is closer to the truth. California has built a demanding, evidence-heavy path to driverless trucks and is now testing its own rules in court and at the ballot box. Waymo can raise billions while working inside that framework because robotaxis operate on a separate permitting track. Autonomous trucking in California has to get through a million-mile requirement, a union lawsuit and an election before any truck runs without a driver.