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Paccar leaves drivers in autonomous trucks for now
Partner Aurora already is operating trucks with no human in cab
Key Takeaways:
- Paccar CEO Preston Feight said July 28 the company has no plans to remove drivers from autonomous trucks despite progress with Aurora, Kodiak AI and Stack.
- The stance matters because Aurora restarted commercial driverless operations with second-generation trucks after a 2025 launch prompted Paccar to seek renewed in-cab oversight.
- Aurora plans to sell autonomous trucks in 2027 as PlusAI and Torc Robotics scale operations and Tesla aims to enter the market.
Paccar will not be taking drivers out of its autonomous trucks yet, CEO Preston Feight said July 28, even as one of its technology partners is already putting self-driving trucks that do not require a human in the cab on the highway.
The parent company of Kenworth and Peterbilt has autonomous trucking partnerships with Aurora Innovation, Kodiak AI and Stack.
READ MORE: Paccar to keep selling current heavy-duty truck engines in ’27
“We’re really happy with the progress we’re making [with its autonomous vehicles]. We have good partners in Aurora, Stack, Kodiak and others that we work with, so we feel good about the progress we are making on that. We have no plans to take the driver out at this point in time,” Feight said in response to a question during Paccar’s second-quarter 2026 earnings call.
One caveat is that Peterbilt trucks upfitted with Kodiak technology and operated by Atlas Energy Solutions on private rather than public roads in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico have no humans in the cab.
Unveiling a second generation of trucks marks a reboot of commercial driverless operations for Aurora after a May 2025 debut led to Paccar requesting that an observer return to the cab of semis a couple of weeks later.
Aurora has two partnerships with truck makers focused on developing factory-built autonomous tractors — Paccar and Volvo Autonomous Solutions.
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Feight
But Aurora is going it alone on the second-generation trucks, employing Roush Industries to retrofit International Motors LT Series tractors the Pittsburgh-based company bought. Aurora expects to offer trucks for sale to customers in 2027.
Among self-driving truck developers, 2027 is already shaping up to be a pivotal year, with PlusAI and Torc Robotics also set to ramp up operations to commercial scale then. In addition, self-driving passenger vehicles pioneer Tesla is promising to become part of the supply equation.
