The idea of scaling autonomy is simple on paper: build more trucks to haul more freight. But the reality is being strategic about what an autonomous network looks like, and understanding that autonomy removes one of the biggest questions in network design: does the labor exist to make a location in my network make sense?
That's what Brett Suma is here to answer.
https://t.co/aaUSX09mSa
Another great move by Bot Auto, please welcome Brett Suma to our team! Brett brings decades of industry experience and a true love of the autonomy space to his role as President & COO. We're so glad to have him with us!
We delivered the first fully-humanless commercial truckload on a public highway in America. Full stop.
No in-cab observer. No remote controller. No passenger. Just the truck, the freight, and a load that made us money.
A 230-mile journey from Houston to Dallas on Interstate 45, one of the busiest freight corridors in Texas.
It took less than three years to get to this point, so how did we do it?
1. A dedicated vision unclouded by distractions or offshoots. We want to move freight for customers who believe in the power of autonomy, so we did.
2. A team that is THE best at what they do. From our engineers to our safety advocates to our leadership, everyone was pointed towards the same goal.
3. Technology that never faltered, never questioned
itself, and performed exactly as designed and tested.
4. A partner who trusts us to get the job done. Ryan Transportation booked and paid for this run, we delivered on time for a service lane they have struggled with in the past.
So now what? We do it again. And again, and again.
We expand our lanes, start running southbound on I-45, book more loads, and deliver more freight. We stay true to our mission of unbeatable service and grow to be THE trusted autonomy provider in Texas, then in America.
The autonomy economy is real; it's here right now. We are leading the charge, and we will keep winning.
Big thanks to Nexar Inc. and the SF Urban Autonomy Summit team for an outstanding event with incredible energy and turnout.
We appreciated the opportunity for Xiaodi Hou to join the panel and share perspectives on moving autonomy from pilots to real-world deployment at scale. Great conversations, strong collaboration, and an impressive group of mobility leaders all around.
I provided some thoughts to @CNET
"California's action shows regulators are paying closer attention to how autonomous systems are presented to the public, and that focus on transparency is healthy for the industry," Moore said.
https://t.co/94XrwOyOS9 via @CNET
Thank you Holman, we were so excited to be at EMERGE 2025 this week in Miami Beach! 🌴
Energized by the discussions on AI-driven impact and partnerships that create outsized value.
Paul Lam and Robert Brown had the opportunity to share Bot Auto’s impact on today’s transportation system — and how we’re building tomorrow’s technology for today’s trucking industry.
It is a milestone. Not the destination.
Validation of fully humanless operations is part of our continuous validation of every element of Bot Auto's operations.
Thanks to Trucking Dive and David Taube for the story!
https://t.co/9iBQRyApdQ
It's official!
Bot Auto is the first to successfully complete a human-less validation of an autonomous big rig! Even better, it happened on public roads and highways right here in Houston.
“This validation run is a meaningful step, but it’s a waypoint, not the destination,” said Dr. Xiaodi Hou, Founder and CEO of Bot Auto. “Success is simple: autonomy must beat human cost-per-mile, consistently and safely. And at Bot Auto, humanless means no human — not in the driver’s seat, not in the back seat, and not behind a remote joystick.”
Prior to the run, Bot Auto completed end-to-end safety verification and validation for the defined Operational Design Domain (ODD), including rigorous closed-course autonomy testing. To further safeguard operations, the truck was equipped with multiple layers of protection, including diversified redundancy, continuous health monitoring, and verified minimum-risk fallback - designed to maintain intended performance under normal conditions and to respond safely to unexpected events.
We are driving innovation and the future is now!
Continuous Validation!
That is what we do at Bot Auto. It is much more than testing, continuous validation comes at every moment on autonomous run.
There are significant landmarks on the journey to humanless operations.
Like the one we hit in July on the Texas Transportation Institute test track, when our truck operated with no driver and no human observer inside—in a controlled environment designed to measure and mitigate risk.
“We control the risk, we control the inputs, and we control every part of the testing,” said Captain Bart Teeter (Ret.), Director of Fleet and Operational Safety at Bot Auto. “That’s what allows us to prove the technology in a safe and reliable way.”
Autonomous trucking can not only be introduced responsibly and reliably, but being humanless lays the groundwork for hauling customer freight on a cost-per-mile model that makes autonomy practical and commercially viable.
See the completely empty cab in our latest validation video!
https://t.co/Z1jGxm9l0n
#SafetyFirst #HumanlessTrucking #AutonomousTrucking #TexasTransportation #BotAuto #ContinuousValidation #TexasTransportationInstitute
All day or all night our autonomous driver is always on.
We continue to use safety drivers on our Texas Highway routes as validation of our autonomous trucks continues every single day. You may see that human in the driver's seat, but you can tell a Bot Auto truck is driving itself by the Autonomy Blue indicator lights.
We will not be driverless. That is now.
We will be HUMANLESS inside the truck. That is soon.
Things that stand out about the 1st Texas Tech Depth Chart
- Henry Teeter listed as starting TE
- Landon Peterson just dominated camp to get that RG spot
- Bradley, Price, White and Fouonji at WR gives Tech a ton of upside
- Josiah Pierre starting at OLB opposite of Tyree