Autonomous trucks: which startup is ahead?

Which autonomous truck startups are we really comparing?

Aurora, Gatik, Kodiak, Waabi, PlusAI and Stack AV make up the main independent Level 4 autonomous-trucking field today.

We include companies trying to operate freight trucks on public roads without a driver. That covers long-haul Class 8 trucks, regional delivery vehicles and industrial routes that connect with public roads. The vehicles differ, but every company wants its software to drive with no one behind the wheel.

Aurora and Kodiak are publicly traded, though both still behave like specialist startups. Gatik focuses on repetitive regional routes. Waabi and PlusAI sell a virtual driver that truck manufacturers can install across vehicles. PlusAI planned to list through a merger with Churchill Capital Corp IX, but the two companies ended the deal in April 2026, citing market conditions, so PlusAI remains private. Stack AV is developing a Class 8 system with more than $1 billion of SoftBank backing but reveals little about its progress.

Inceptio sits just outside the main ranking. The company said in September 2026 that its trucks had passed 1 billion commercial kilometers in China, far more customer mileage than any American rival. Most of that activity uses Level 3 technology, where a human driver stays responsible. Inceptio is also testing Level 4 heavy trucks on open roads with JD Logistics. We use it as a commercial benchmark without treating its kilometers as driverless ones.

Torc is another serious competitor, although Daimler Truck has owned it since 2019 and it targets a 2027 launch. Bot Auto, a small Houston startup, has run validation trips with nobody in the cab but has raised only about $45 million. Outrider, Fernride and ISEE focus on yards, ports or other closed sites. Einride’s disclosed driverless public-road scale remains too limited for the core comparison.

Funding figures need care. Private rounds, public listings, strategic investments and conditional commitments are often lumped together even though they are different kinds of capital. The table shows approximate cumulative funding or backing, not perfectly comparable dollars.

Startup	Main autonomous truck strategy	Approximate disclosed funding or backing
Aurora	Driverless Class 8 trucks for regional and long-haul freight	More than $4B including public-market capital
Waabi	AI-first virtual driver for trucks and robotaxis	About $1.03B raised, plus additional conditional Uber funding
Stack AV	Level 4 Class 8 autonomous trucking system	More than $1B from SoftBank
PlusAI	Virtual driver for factory-built autonomous trucks	About $720M (private after its SPAC deal ended in April 2026)
Inceptio	Mass-produced Level 3 trucks with a future Level 4 roadmap	About $678M
Kodiak	Autonomous trucks for freight, industrial work and defense	About $540M including public-transaction financing
Gatik	Driverless regional and middle-mile freight	About $500M reported, including a $200M Series D in August 2026

Is any autonomous truck startup clearly ahead today?

Aurora is ahead overall, with Gatik and Kodiak forming a credible but smaller chasing group.

Aurora has crossed more of the important thresholds at once. Its Class 8 trucks move customer freight without a driver, day and night, on Texas and Arizona corridors, using second-generation hardware on International LT trucks. At its investor day in September 2026, Aurora said its trucks had logged more than 500,000 driverless miles and that each runs at an annualized pace above 225,000 miles, about double a typical human-driven truck.

Gatik has the most established regional delivery business. Its trucks serve large consumer and retail networks in several states and in Canada, and its disclosed contracts exceed $600 million. Kodiak has gone furthest in handing driverless trucks to a customer: Atlas Energy Solutions owned and operated 35 Kodiak-powered vehicles in the Permian Basin at the end of June 2026.

Aurora leads long-haul highway autonomy, Gatik leads frequent regional delivery and Kodiak leads customer-owned industrial deployment. Waabi, PlusAI and Stack AV remain behind because none runs commercial freight without someone in the cab.

If you want more recent data on this point, please see our latest autonomous vehicle market report.

Which autonomous truck startups already haul freight with nobody driving?

Aurora, Gatik and Kodiak are still the only leading startups with sustained commercial operations where nobody sits in the driver’s seat.

Aurora started driverless Class 8 freight on the Dallas-Houston corridor and then expanded across Texas and into Arizona. It reported nine customers in its driverless cohort in its second-quarter 2026 results. California also began permitting driverless heavy trucks in 2026, and Aurora has applied to start the required testing there with a driver.

Gatik uses medium-duty box trucks for store replenishment and runs between plants, warehouses and distribution centers. Its routes mix highways, city streets and customer docks. Gatik said in August 2026 that it had completed 85,000 driverless orders with 99% on-time delivery, up from about 60,000 at the start of the year.

Kodiak’s driverless trucks haul frac sand for Atlas in West Texas, across highways, private roads and rough industrial sites. Atlas staff run the vehicles day to day, while Kodiak supplies the driving system and support.

Waabi, PlusAI and Stack AV have no driver-out commercial service. Waabi and Volvo started hauling customer freight in October 2026, but with an observer in the driver’s seat.

Who runs the biggest real driverless truck operation?

Aurora leads in public-road driverless distance, Gatik leads in everyday regional deliveries, and Kodiak has disclosed the most paid driverless operating hours.

Aurora’s more than 500,000 driverless miles, a company figure given in September 2026, are the clearest measure of broad highway exposure. FreightWaves reported the same total from the investor day. The distance spans several routes, day and night, including lanes of roughly 1,000 miles such as Fort Worth-Phoenix.

Gatik reports less distance, but mileage understates its kind of work. A regional truck may make several customer stops while covering a fraction of a long-haul tractor’s distance. Its 85,000 driverless orders show commercial repetition that mileage misses. PepsiCo alone runs 41 Gatik driverless trucks on Frito-Lay routes in Dallas, Phoenix and northwest Arkansas, according to SiliconANGLE.

Kodiak reported more than 40,000 cumulative paid driverless hours at the end of June 2026, up 71% in one quarter. Its trucks also delivered more than 300,000 tons of freight in the second quarter. Those hours include low-speed industrial work that does not produce interstate mileage. They still prove that a paying customer keeps the vehicles busy.

The dividing line is clear even with uneven reporting. The top three have continuous driverless work. Their closest rivals have supervised hauls and launch dates.

Startup	Strongest disclosed driverless measure	What the number actually shows
Aurora	More than 500,000 driverless miles (company, September 2026)	Widest verified exposure to public highways and long routes
Gatik	About 85,000 driverless commercial orders (August 2026)	Repeated delivery work inside real retail supply chains
Kodiak	More than 40,000 paid driverless hours (end of June 2026)	Intensive use by a customer-owned industrial fleet
Waabi	No commercial driverless figure disclosed	Customer freight with an observer on board; driverless targeted for 2027
PlusAI	No commercial driverless figure disclosed	Customer freight trials ahead of a planned 2027 launch
Stack AV	No comparable operating figure disclosed	Too little public evidence to judge commercial maturity

Is Aurora still alone in driverless long-haul trucking?

Yes, for now. Aurora is the only startup running driverless long-haul freight, but Kodiak plans to join it on the Dallas-Houston corridor before the end of 2026.

The Dallas-Houston launch proved Aurora could carry commercial freight on a major interstate without a driver. It then added routes such as Fort Worth-El Paso and Fort Worth-Phoenix. The Phoenix lane runs about 1,000 miles, far beyond what one human driver can legally cover in a shift.

Aurora also works with more than one truck maker. Its second-generation system runs on International trucks, and the Aurora Driver is installed on the line of Volvo’s Virginia plant. Volvo Autonomous Solutions plans its own driverless operations in the first quarter of 2027 and expects more than 300 trucks in operation by the end of 2027, according to FreightWaves.

Kodiak is the challenger to watch. In September 2026 it announced a driverless service with IKEA on 219 miles of Interstate 45 between Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, targeted for the end of the year. Kodiak said its internal readiness score for long-haul reached 96% at the end of September; it treats 100% as ready. Until trucks actually run that lane empty-cabbed, Aurora keeps a full commercial step ahead.

If you want more recent data on this point, please see our latest autonomous vehicle market report.

Is Gatik still the clear leader in regional autonomous delivery?

Yes. Gatik leads regional delivery by a wide margin, and it now has the capital to scale.

The company chose predictable routes between fixed business sites. That narrower problem let Gatik go driverless earlier than startups that started with long-haul trucking.

PepsiCo signed a new multi-year agreement with Gatik in June 2026, covering Texas, Arizona and Arkansas. Gatik also serves Walmart, Kroger, Tyson Foods and Loblaw, where a five-year Canadian deployment involves 50 trucks.

The $200 million Series D in August 2026 changes the story. Gatik is no longer the small company doing more with less; it now has roughly $500 million raised in total, according to The Next Web. The tension is fleet size. Gatik runs “dozens” of driverless trucks today, and its year-end goal is reported differently: Reuters cited more than 100 trucks, while FleetOwner reported several hundred.

Gatik still has to prove it can move into heavier freight. In regional delivery, no startup has stronger commercial evidence.

Has Kodiak found the smartest early market for autonomous trucks?

Kodiak may have chosen the best first market for proving that customers can own and run autonomous trucks themselves.

Atlas Energy Solutions uses Kodiak-powered trucks to haul sand in the Permian Basin. The work is repetitive, physically hard and difficult to staff. Trucks can run for long stretches, and every extra hour moves more sand through Atlas’s system.

Kodiak first delivered a handful of trucks, then grew as Atlas gained experience. The customer-owned fleet went from ten to twenty, then 28, then 35 at the end of June 2026. Atlas has committed to 100 trucks, which Kodiak expects to complete by the end of the first half of 2027. In August, Kodiak guided for the high 30s by the end of September, with additions slowing while it moves to a new Western Star 49X platform built with Roush.

The product now lives inside another company’s workflow, maintenance and staff. That is a harder test than a polished pilot. Kodiak’s next steps are a logging pilot with West Fraser in Canada and the IKEA highway launch.

If you want more recent data on this point, please see our latest autonomous vehicle market report.

Which autonomous truck startup is growing fastest now?

Kodiak still shows the fastest measurable growth from a small base, while Aurora shows the largest gain in reach.

Kodiak’s customer-owned driverless fleet grew from ten trucks at the end of the third quarter of 2025 to 35 at the end of June 2026. Paid driverless hours rose from 5,200 to more than 40,000 over the same period.

Revenue followed. It went from less than $1 million in the third quarter of 2025 to $1.8 million in the first quarter of 2026 and $3.5 million in the second. About $1 million of that last figure was a one-time payment from the DriveOhio program, so the underlying jump is smaller.

Aurora’s acceleration shows in miles and customers. It passed 100,000 driverless miles in autumn 2025, 250,000 in January 2026 and more than 500,000 by September. Second-quarter revenue was about $2 million, roughly double a year earlier, from nine driverless customers.

Gatik’s orders grew from about 60,000 to 85,000 in eight months, but it does not publish regular fleet and revenue figures. Waabi’s growth is in partners and supervised loads: it said its Dallas-Houston commercial volume grew more than 80% in 2026, without giving a base.

Which company can actually build hundreds of autonomous trucks?

Aurora has the clearest near-term route to hundreds of trucks, while PlusAI still has the broadest set of truck-maker partners for a later launch.

Aurora’s production ramp is scheduled. Aurora said in September 2026 that Roush would begin volume upfitting in October at a target of 20 trucks a week, which Aurora described as a run rate of about 1,000 a year. Aurora says it is fully allocated to end 2026 with 200 driverless trucks. Its investor-day plan calls for more than 1,000 trucks by the end of 2027 and more than 30,000 by 2030. Those are targets, and the 2030 number is a long-range ambition.

Volvo builds the VNL Autonomous with the Aurora Driver installed on its line in Virginia. Continental, now AUMOVIO, is developing mass-produced hardware for Aurora. Together these give Aurora several paths to industrial scale.

PlusAI works with International, Scania, MAN, IVECO, Hyundai and others. A factory-built International truck hauls customer freight for Ryder on Interstate 35 in Texas, with a safety operator inside. PlusAI reported a safety-case readiness of 93.4% in August 2026 and aims for 100% in 2027.

Gatik builds on Isuzu medium-duty trucks, with Isuzu as an investor and Ryder for servicing. It has not said how fast it can deliver the hundreds of trucks implied by its contracts.

Kodiak uses modular SensorPods and has moved to a Western Star 49X platform from Daimler Truck, upfitted by Roush. Bosch is helping build a more industrial redundant platform. Kodiak has no annual production target close to Aurora’s.

Startup	Current path to production	What still needs proving
Aurora	Roush upfitting at a targeted 20 trucks a week, International platform, Volvo line integration and future AUMOVIO hardware	Reaching the targeted 200 operating trucks by year-end without reliability slipping
PlusAI	Factory integration across several global truck brands	Removing the safety driver and keeping the 2027 launch on schedule
Gatik	Isuzu production relationship and Ryder servicing	Delivering the hundreds of trucks connected to announced contracts
Kodiak	Modular SensorPods, Western Star 49X platform upfitted by Roush, Bosch hardware development	Completing Atlas’s 100-truck order and moving to repeatable high-volume production
Waabi	Purpose-built Volvo VNL Autonomous platform, with Volvo installations expected from early 2027	Removing the observer and publishing a launch fleet and timetable
Stack AV	Test fleet and substantial SoftBank backing	Revealing a concrete manufacturing and customer-deployment plan

Which autonomous truck product has proved the most in real traffic?

Aurora has the most mature Level 4 product, while Inceptio has the most mature assisted-driving system in commercial use.

Aurora drives without anyone on board across several highway routes, through traffic, interchanges, construction and night driving. The company reported zero collisions attributed to the Aurora Driver in its second-quarter 2026 results. Its newest hardware is designed for a million-mile life and costs less than half the previous generation, according to the company.

Gatik’s product handles more junctions, city streets, customer entrances and repeated stops. Its 85,000 orders show the software doing useful regional work every day.

Kodiak has proved itself in harsh conditions: dust, poor road surfaces, heavy loads and industrial traffic in West Texas. It also reports more than 750,000 supervised autonomous miles and more than 1,300 loads hauled for IKEA.

Inceptio’s 1 billion commercial kilometers come from mass-produced trucks across China’s highway network. The scale is impressive, but its Level 3 system still relies on a driver.

Waabi moved its software from a Peterbilt test truck to the Volvo platform without retraining, and its COO said in October 2026 that opening a new lane now takes three weeks instead of three months. That could become a big advantage, but it still comes from supervised driving.

Which autonomous truck startup gives fleets the clearest financial payoff?

Gatik offers the clearest payoff already visible in ordinary logistics, while Aurora promises the biggest eventual savings on long routes.

Gatik adds reliable capacity on repetitive routes that are hard to staff. A 99% on-time rate across 85,000 driverless orders gives the economics something concrete: products arrive when stores and warehouses expect them.

Its capital use still stands out, though less sharply now that it has raised far more. Gatik has raised about $500 million and holds contracts worth more than $600 million. Contracted revenue is not cash collected, and the company has not said whether it is profitable. Even so, no rival shows a similar commercial commitment relative to money invested.

Aurora’s long-haul offer could save more per truck. At its September 2026 investor day, it said a carrier could save up to 20%, or about 50 cents a mile, versus a solo human driver. It expects about $2 a mile when it owns the trucks and 85 cents or more a mile when carriers own them. Werner told FreightWaves there is still “a gap” to close in negotiations.

Those savings are not yet proven at scale. Aurora guides to $190 million to $220 million of cash use per quarter in 2026 against about $2 million of quarterly revenue. It now expects gross-margin breakeven in the first half of 2027, later than its earlier year-end 2026 goal.

Kodiak sits between them. Atlas keeps adding trucks, which strongly suggests the deployment pays. The economics still lean on a specialized industrial route where round-the-clock use is unusually valuable.

Waabi has raised more than $1 billion without disclosing driverless trucking revenue. Its argument is that simulation and adaptable AI will cut the cost of new trucks and lanes. Investors have funded that idea; customers have not yet validated it at scale.

If you want more recent data on this point, please see our latest autonomous vehicle market report.

Which autonomous truck startup has won the strongest customer demand?

Gatik has the strongest disclosed contract book and the deepest major-customer ties, while Aurora has the broadest customer network.

Gatik says its signed contracts are worth more than $600 million. Its CEO said in August 2026 that the backlog had “increased significantly” but gave no new figure. The number covers multi-year commitments, not recognized revenue, and The Next Web noted it first appeared in January as a five-year deal value.

PepsiCo is the strongest single reference in autonomous trucking. Its 41 driverless Gatik trucks run in three states under a new multi-year deal. Loblaw’s planned 50-truck Canadian operation adds another large retail customer.

Aurora reported nine customers in its driverless cohort in the second quarter of 2026, including McLane and Werner. It added Value Truck and Charger Logistics in July. Its partner list includes Uber Freight, FedEx, Schneider, Ryder and Volvo Autonomous Solutions, which has signed DSV and AVI-SPL for freight on the Volvo VNL Autonomous.

Its biggest visible opportunity is Hirschbach, which plans to own and operate 500 Aurora-powered trucks from 2027. Aurora’s own filing calls it a non-binding memorandum of understanding.

Kodiak’s Atlas relationship goes deeper than a normal pilot: Atlas owns the 35 trucks, runs them with its own staff and has committed to 100. IKEA, with more than 1,300 loads hauled with Kodiak over four years, is set to become its first driverless long-haul customer.

Waabi now has paying freight from Warp and Warrior Logistics, but with a person on board. Stack AV discloses no customers. PlusAI’s HyperFoundry work should not be confused with recurring driverless revenue.

Startup	Strongest customer and demand evidence	How convincing is it?
Gatik	41 driverless PepsiCo trucks in three states, Walmart, Kroger, Tyson, Loblaw and more than $600M in contracted revenue	Deep, repeated and already tied to driverless deliveries
Aurora	Nine driverless customers and Hirschbach’s planned 500-truck fleet	Broadest customer base, though the largest commitment remains non-binding
Kodiak	Atlas owns and operates 35 driverless trucks of a 100-truck commitment; IKEA long-haul launch planned	Strongest proof that a customer can absorb the product into daily operations
Waabi	Volvo Autonomous Solutions, Warp, Warrior Logistics and Uber Freight	Real paying loads, still with an observer on board
PlusAI	International, TRATON brands, IVECO, Hyundai, Ryder and DSV	Broad industrial support ahead of commercial Level 4 operations
Stack AV	No major deployment customer publicly identified	Too little public information for a meaningful judgment

What can the autonomous truck leaders do that rivals cannot easily copy?

Aurora has built the broadest moat, while Gatik and Kodiak have narrower advantages built around customer operations.

Aurora controls more than a driving model. It owns its long-range FirstLight lidar, has fitted its system to several truck platforms and has spent years on route validation, remote support and safety processes. A rival would need to rebuild the whole operation around the truck: terminals, hardware maintenance and customer integration.

Its road experience also builds a data edge. More than 500,000 driverless miles will not cover every rare event, but they show how trucks, sensors and support behave over long commercial shifts.

Gatik’s protection comes from being embedded in regional supply chains. Store schedules, loading rules and delivery windows differ by customer. Once the service works across those workflows, replacing Gatik is more disruptive than swapping one software licence.

Kodiak’s strongest technical idea is the modular SensorPod, which can be swapped quickly to cut downtime. Its software is also being adapted to oilfields, logging and defense, including work with General Dynamics Land Systems, which gives it data highway-only rivals may never collect.

Waabi could end up with the most scalable software. Its neural simulator and adaptable driving model aim to cut the road testing needed for each new truck and lane. The Peterbilt-to-Volvo transfer and its faster lane openings support that claim, though a driverless launch remains the real test.

PlusAI’s defense rests on factory ties. Deep integration with several large manufacturers could give it a global channel. The risk is timing, made sharper by its cancelled listing: distribution is worth less if rivals build large customer fleets first.

Which autonomous truck startup has the strongest momentum lately?

Aurora has the strongest overall momentum, but Kodiak has the most important near-term catalyst.

Aurora put its second-generation trucks into driverless service, passed 500,000 driverless miles, scheduled volume upfitting at Roush for October and laid out a 2030 goal of more than 30,000 trucks at its September 2026 investor day. Its CFO admitted the 30,000 figure “does sound like a lot to some people.”

Kodiak is moving toward its biggest test. Its long-haul readiness score rose from 84% in February to 96% at the end of September, and the IKEA launch is planned for the end of 2026.

Gatik has the strongest funding momentum after its $200 million round, backed by an expanded PepsiCo agreement that grew out of a long relationship rather than a new pilot.

Waabi’s momentum is now commercial as well as financial. It started Volvo-built customer hauls for Warp on October 5, 2026, and signed Warrior Logistics nine days later. PlusAI keeps improving SuperDrive, but losing its listing and a 2027 launch leave it behind the operating leaders.

Which autonomous truck startups are actually ahead?

Aurora is the autonomous-truck startup ahead overall today, followed by Gatik and Kodiak in a distinct top three.

Aurora wins because long-haul trucking puts the hardest combination of demands on the product. The truck must drive at highway speed for many hours, handle changing routes and weather, run without a safety driver and fit a carrier’s network. Aurora has done more of that than any rival.

Its lead should not be exaggerated. Aurora is deeply unprofitable, has pushed back its gross-margin breakeven and still has to turn a 200-truck year-end target into a dependable fleet. A slow ramp or a serious safety failure could change the ranking quickly.

Gatik takes second place by choosing a narrower problem and commercializing it well. Its trucks cover less distance, but they complete useful deliveries for large customers every day. Driverless operations, a 99% on-time rate, more than $600 million in contracts and fresh capital make it the closest commercial challenger.

Kodiak ranks third but is closing in. Thirty-five Atlas trucks and fast-rising paid hours prove another company can run the vehicles in hard conditions. A successful driverless launch with IKEA on I-45 would end Aurora’s position as the only startup running driverless long-haul freight.

Waabi remains the most dangerous company outside the top three. Its AI may need less engineering and data to enter new trucks and lanes, and it now hauls paying freight on Volvo trucks. Until it removes the observer, fourth place is the highest defensible position.

PlusAI follows because its factory partnerships could support a large international rollout. Its problem is simple: Aurora, Gatik and Kodiak are collecting driverless experience while PlusAI waits for 2027.

Stack AV ranks sixth. Its founders have deep experience and SoftBank has given it exceptional support. With no disclosed driverless service, customer fleet or operating metrics, ranking it higher would put reputation and funding above evidence.

Aurora’s closest threat depends on what happens next. Kodiak can close the gap by launching the IKEA lane on time and adding more Atlas-like customers. Gatik can challenge the overall lead by moving into heavier trucks without losing its efficiency. Waabi can move fast if its Volvo platform goes driverless in 2027.

For now, Aurora’s overall position is closer to 100 against roughly 75 for Gatik and 70 for Kodiak. The gap is large enough to name a leader, but far too small to call the race finished.

Rank	Startup	Why it ranks here
1	Aurora	Only driverless long-haul operation, more than 500,000 driverless miles, nine driverless customers and a production ramp under way
2	Gatik	Best regional freight operation, deepest major-customer deployments, strongest disclosed contract book and a fresh $200M round
3	Kodiak	Most convincing customer-owned driverless fleet, fastest measurable operating growth and a planned driverless long-haul launch with IKEA
4	Waabi	Potentially more adaptable AI, Volvo-built trucks hauling paying freight and abundant capital, but no driver-out service yet
5	PlusAI	Broadest OEM network and credible factory-integration strategy, with Level 4 launch still targeted for 2027
6	Stack AV	Experienced founders and exceptional backing, but almost no public evidence of commercial readiness

If you want more recent data on this point, please see our latest autonomous vehicle market report.