McLane to Deploy Aurora-Powered Driverless Trucks Across U.S. Sun Belt by Year-End

Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary McLane Company is expanding its autonomous freight operations, planning to roll out driverless big rig routes across the U.S. Sun Belt by the end of 2026, building on a pilot program with Aurora Innovation that began three years ago.

Temple, Texas-based McLane, which operates more than 80 distribution centers covering nearly every zip code in the country and employs 25,000 people, will use Aurora's self-driving technology to haul supplies — including perishables — to restaurant brands along routes stretching from Texas and into other Sun Belt states.

The two companies launched their pilot arrangement in 2023, running what Aurora classifies as "supervised" autonomous technology on a route between Dallas and Houston. That program now logs two round-trips daily, seven days a week. Since inception, those routes have accumulated 280,000 autonomous miles in Texas and delivered 1,400 loads to restaurant customers.

McLane has now formally approved driverless operations on the Dallas-to-Houston corridor and expects to add new routes between its distribution centers across the Sun Belt before the close of 2026. The companies declined to specify the number of trucks or loads that will be part of the expanded driverless hauls.

The arrangement focuses on what logistics operators call the "middle mile" — the segment connecting centralized distribution facilities to last-mile delivery points. Human McLane drivers continue to handle that final leg of delivery to restaurant locations using separate trucks.

"Autonomous technology helps us drive greater efficiency across the supply chain, while our drivers remain focused on the critical last mile — and continuing to serve as the face of our company to customers," Susan Adzick, president of McLane Restaurant, said in a statement.

While McLane's existing routes using trucks built by Paccar have been approved for driverless status, a human observer still rides in the cab at the OEM's request. Crucially, the observer does not operate the vehicle. According to Aurora, the Aurora Driver system is "fully responsible for all driving tasks, including pulling over to a safe location if required."

Separately, Aurora has plans to deploy a new fleet of 200 trucks built by Volkswagen subsidiary International LT — trucks that will carry no observer at all — beginning this quarter and running through year-end. Aurora declined to say whether McLane intends to adopt that fleet.

Aurora is currently McLane's sole autonomous trucking partner. The companies said expansion plans are in place but did not provide further specifics on future customers or routes.

McLane, founded in 1894, serves convenience stores, mass merchants, and chain restaurants. Walmart — once McLane's parent company — sold the distribution business to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway in 2003 and remains one of its largest clients.

Texas has emerged as the primary staging ground for commercial autonomous freight deployment, a convergence driven not only by the state's regulatory environment but also by the sheer volume of freight moving across Sun Belt corridors and the relative absence of severe weather conditions such as snow and ice. Aurora recently launched a 1,000-mile autonomous route between Fort Worth and Phoenix — a haul longer than federal rules allow a single driver to complete without stopping — and announced a separate 200-mile route between Dallas and Oklahoma City in partnership with Volvo Autonomous Solutions.

The McLane expansion signals that large-scale, commercial driverless freight is advancing from controlled pilots toward operational deployment, with a major Berkshire subsidiary staking its supply chain efficiency on the technology's reliability at scale.