COLUMBUS, Ohio― Look out your passenger window on I-70 and you may soon see a self-driving truck, thanks to a new partnership that hopes to put Ohio at the forefront of automated trucking research.

What You Need To Know


  • The project will allow freight companies to deploy self-driving trucks on I-70 between Columbus and Indianapolis

  • The initiative has secured a total of $8.9 million in funds, with partners matching $4.5 million

  • Universities, companies, and government departments are partnered on the project

The Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration awarded $4.4 million to the Ohio Department of Transportation’s DriveOhio initiative, which focuses on automated transportation, for its I-70 Truck Automation Corridor project.

The project will allow freight companies and truck automation vendors to use automated trucks on a stretch of I-70 from Columbus to Indianapolis, Indiana. A driver will always be at the wheel in case intervention is necessary.

Officials said the partnership will create jobs in Ohio and advance the automated trucking industry with insights into safe practices for the novel technology.  

The project is a collaboration between ODOT, the Indiana Department of Transportation, and the Transportation Research Center Inc, an independent automotive test center based in Ohio.

In addition to the government partners, letters of support for the project were provided by companies including Anheuser-Busch, Bosch, Kodiak Robotics, Navistar, and RUSH Transportation & Logistics, among others. Educational institutions, including Ohio State’s Center for Automotive Research and a transportation research program at Purdue, also wrote letters of support. 

The initiative has secured a total of $8.9 million in funds, with partners matching $4.5 million.

“We have something special here in Ohio,” DriveOhio’s interim executive director said in a press release. “As self-driving technology matures, it is important that everyone has a seat at the table. With the coalition of public, private and research institutions that we have built, we’re confident this project will provide valuable insights to USDOT and industry as we develop smart logistics policies, procedures and technology standards that will be shared across the nation.”

A spokesperson for DriveOhio said there is no exact timeline for automated trucks getting on the road, but noted the timeline of the grant is four years.