Driverless IKEA freight planned for Interstate 45 in Texas

The service is planned to run primarily between facilities in the Houston and Dallas areas and to form 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.

The deployment depends 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 gives the effort relevance beyond the US, as retailers and carriers assess how driverless operations could affect long-haul capacity, driver deployment and distribution-network design.