IKEA store in Edmonton. On Tuesday, January 12, 2021, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Swedish furniture retailer IKEA has begun piloting autonomous trucks to transport its products across Texas highways.

The program is a partnership with California-based self-driving trucking company Kodiak Robotics that started in August, but wasn't previously made public. Every day for nearly three months, a self-driving truck has picked up a delivery from IKEA's Baytown distribution center and made the nearly 300-mile trip to Frisco by late afternoon.

While the Houston-area is no stranger to self-driving vehicles for food and grocery delivery, Kodiak's trucks are specifically designed for long-haul highway trips. 

A professional driver still sits behind the wheel and manages driving on local roads, but the truck itself uses camera, radar and light sensors to steer, brake and navigate Texas highway traffic. 

The goal is both to reduce the typical strain of long trips on truck drivers, while also improving road safety, Kodiak said in a release. The autonomous trucks never speed or weave in and out of traffic, the company says, and each truck contains a monitoring system that can tell when a sensor is damaged, when tire pressure is too low or when the truck encounters another condition that makes autonomous driving unsafe.

Kodiak Robotics was founded in 2018 and has an operations center in Texas. Its trucks have been making daily deliveries between Houston and Dallas since 2019, according to the company. 

IKEA operates five stores in Texas -- including one in Houston -- and several fulfillment centers throughout the state to support online purchasing. Dariusz Mroczek, IKEA's category area transport manager for supply chain operations, said in a statement that the partnership with Kodiak is part of a transition toward using automated transportation without cutting out drivers.

Megan Munce is a Hearst Fellow working for the Houston Chronicle.

Megan recently graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a B.S. and M.S. in journalism and a second major in political science.

She previously worked as an audience engagement fellow and a reporting fellow at the Texas Tribune, as well as an audience intelligence intern for KQED, the Bay Area's NPR and PBS member station.

By Alison Cook, Greg Morago, Bao Ong, Jody Schmal, J C Reid, Mai Pham