IKEA Supply will become the launch shipper for Kodiak Robotics' driverless long-haul service, with freight moving along a 219-mile stretch of Interstate 45 in Texas later this year — no human in the cab.

The driver-out leg runs primarily between Kodiak's Houston and Dallas-area facilities. It forms part of an established 292-mile delivery route connecting IKEA's Baytown distribution center with its store in Frisco.

The partnership is not new. Over the past four years, Kodiak has moved more than 1,300 loads and logged more than 750,000 miles hauling IKEA goods autonomously with a safety observer aboard, founder and CEO Don Burnette wrote in a company post announcing the update Tuesday.

"Unsupervised driverless operations – no human in the cab – represent a milestone the entire Kodiak team has been tirelessly working toward since Kodiak was founded more than eight years ago," he wrote.

The route to driver-out

Kodiak named Dallas–Houston as its long-haul launch lane on Sept. 25. The company started its driverless long-haul launch program in August and now consistently completes deliveries between its Lancaster, Texas, hub and Houston without human intervention. On those runs, the safety observer never touched the wheel — including on surface streets, according to Kodiak.

One hurdle remains. Before the driver comes out, Kodiak must finish its highway launch safety case, a structured, evidence-backed argument that the Kodiak Driver can operate without a human aboard in a defined area. The company's Autonomy Readiness Measure — the share of claims and evidence in that safety case that are materially complete — stood at 93% for long-haul operations at the end of August, up from 84% in February. Kodiak expects to reach 100% and launch driverless operations by year-end.

Kodiak already runs driverless trucks commercially for Atlas Energy Solutions in the Permian Basin, work that began in December 2024. The two companies expect to put that fleet on public roads in early 2027. IKEA's freight could reach a public interstate first.

The regulatory plumbing is going in ahead of the launch. Last week, Kodiak and PrePass began routing inspection clearances from Kodiak's driverless trucks into state weigh station systems in Texas and Louisiana. A driverless truck cannot talk to a roadside inspector, so the CVSA Enhanced Inspection clearance travels through PrePass and stays valid for up to 24 hours.

Four years on the IKEA lane

The IKEA service ran seven days a week, "night and day, rain and shine," Burnette wrote, with what he called "an impressive, nearly perfect on-time delivery record." The post did not include an on-time percentage.

The runs taught Kodiak what Burnette called "the little things that really matter": when and where to launch trucks, exactly when they will arrive in Frisco so unloading can be booked to a specific dock door, and how to turn predictive maintenance data into proactive maintenance plans.

The long-haul focus also lets the human drivers who remain concentrate on local jobs "that most prefer," Burnette wrote. "They can reduce their time sleeping on the side of the highway and instead be home with family and friends."

He added that Kodiak's driverless work will continue with IKEA and other customers after the launch.

"Mile by mile, we intend to build trust and gain traction until driver-out service is a routine and everyday part of the long-haul trucking landscape," he wrote.

Why it matters

For shippers, the IKEA deal signals autonomous capacity moving from oilfield compounds to a public interstate serving one of the country's busiest freight corridors. If Kodiak closes its safety case by year-end, a national retailer's goods will move driverless on I-45 well before the Permian fleet reaches public roads in early 2027 — a trajectory that could reshape rate and capacity dynamics on Texas lanes.