Bot Auto

Bot Auto is an autonomous-trucking company founded in 2023 by Xiaodi Hou, a former CTO and co-founder of TuSimple, and headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company pursues a transportation-as-a-service model, operating its own Level 4 driverless Class 8 trucks rather than selling autonomy software. In May 2026 Bot Auto said it delivered what it called the U.S. autonomous-trucking industry's first fully humanless, over-the-road commercial truckload, moving a paying customer's freight overnight on a roughly 230-mile Houston-to-Dallas route with no safety driver, in-cab observer, or low-latency remote operator. The company has cited a humanless cost of about $1.89 per mile versus an industry estimate of $2.26. Bot Auto raised a $20 million oversubscribed pre-Series A round in September 2024 and has reported roughly $40 million in total capital. As of mid-2026 it runs a lean operation of 12 tractors and about 80 employees serving more than 25 contracted customers, and in June 2026 it appointed logistics veteran Brett Suma as President & COO.