Tyson Foods Tests Self-Driving Trucks in Texas

A pilot program between Kodiak Robotics and C.R. England autonomously ships Tyson products between Dallas and San Antonio.

Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Robotics

Photograph of a plain white refrigerated truck with rooftop sensor pods on an empty flat Texas highway at late afternoon, suggesting autonomous freight. — Tyson Foods and Kodiak Robotics are testing autonomous trucks that carry Tyson products between Dallas and San Antonio, with C.R. England drivers handling each end of the route. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Live Poll

Would you trust self-driving trucks to deliver the food you buy?

Tyson Foods is taking part in a pilot program that uses self-driving trucks to deliver its products between Dallas and San Antonio, Texas. The deliveries launched in April using Kodiak self-driving trucks and C.R. England refrigerated trailers, with safety drivers aboard during the initial stages.

Why it matters

The pilot addresses a shortage of truck drivers across the industry while testing whether autonomous freight can handle time-critical, perishable cargo. For Texas, it puts one of the state's key freight corridors at the center of the shift toward driverless long-haul trucking.

The Kodiak Driver is the autonomous system being integrated into C.R. England refrigerated trailers on the Dallas to San Antonio route. The source does not provide hardware specifications, sensor counts, or autonomy performance metrics.

The players

Tyson Foods

Tyson Foods is a major American producer of chicken, beef, and pork products that is testing autonomous delivery of its goods in Texas.

C.R. England

C.R. England is a family-owned trucking company founded in 1920 that is consistently ranked among the nation's top carriers for time-critical, perishable freight.

Kodiak Robotics Inc.

Kodiak Robotics is a developer of self-driving truck technology that runs a Partner Deployment Program to help carriers integrate autonomous trucks into their fleets.

The details

Kodiak Robotics Inc. and C.R. England, Inc. run the pilot, which autonomously ships Tyson Foods products between Dallas and San Antonio. C.R. England drivers take over at either end of each autonomous load to handle customer and consignee interactions.

April: Autonomous Tyson Foods deliveries launched between Dallas and San Antonio, Texas.

The Tech Race

The Kodiak Driver is being moved beyond its own operations into the refrigerated fleet of C.R. England, a carrier with more than a century of history. The partnership reflects a broader race among autonomous trucking developers to win established carriers as customers.

Shoppers in Texas may see Tyson products delivered by autonomous trucks on the Dallas to San Antonio route, though the source does not say whether retail pricing or availability will change. Drivers and carriers on that corridor will work alongside the technology as C.R. England drivers handle handoffs at each end of an autonomous load.

The takeaway

Autonomous freight is being tested first on a corridor where safety drivers still ride along and human drivers take over at the endpoints. Watching how carriers and shippers handle that hybrid model will show whether it can scale.