Self-driving trucks are now operating on California highways, and a prominent truck accident lawyer is warning that determining fault after a crash will involve more parties than ever before. Under regulations the California DMV adopted on April 28, companies can test autonomous trucks weighing over 10,001 pounds. Each vehicle must begin with a safety driver behind the wheel and log 500,000 miles per phase before moving to driverless operations. Kodiak AI and Aurora have received testing permits, and on September 22, Kodiak began hauling freight between Fresno and Los Angeles. The Teamsters are challenging the rules in Alameda County Superior Court.
"A self-driving truck doesn't change the basic question of who caused the crash. It changes how many companies may share the answer," said Barry P. Goldberg, founder of Barry P. Goldberg, A Professional Law Corporation, which represents injured people along Interstate 8 and State Routes 67 and 125. "The key evidence lives in the truck's software and sensor logs, and the companies on the other side control those records."
In conventional truck crashes, fault can rest with the driver, the trucking company, the business that loaded the cargo, or the shop that maintained the vehicle. Self-driving trucks add two new layers. First, the safety driver: during testing, a human operator must sit behind the wheel, and an operator who fails to take control can share fault with the carrier that employs them. Second, the technology company: when an automated driving system malfunctions, injured people may pursue a product liability claim against the company that designed it.
For crash victims, the implications are practical and urgent. Goldberg advises injured people to note the company names on the truck and to contact a lawyer early, so every company involved receives a letter requiring it to keep its records, including software and sensor logs. Whatever happens with the Teamsters' lawsuit, California law still lets them pursue every party that contributed to the crash.
As autonomous big rigs expand across the state, the stakes extend beyond any single case. The outcome of early litigation and the DMV's oversight will shape how responsibility is allocated when software, not a human, is at the wheel. For East County drivers who share the road with these vehicles, knowing who may be liable, and how to preserve evidence, could prove as important as knowing the rules of the road themselves.
