Las Vegas, NV | May 4–7, 2026
ACT Expo has long served as a lens into where the commercial vehicle industry is placing its bets. This year’s conference in Las Vegas was no different. After years of focus on the electrification transition, the tagline for this year’s conference shifted to “The Largest Fleet Technology Show.” The emphasis on advanced technology for fleets was apparent, and especially noteworthy was the prominence of autonomous trucking. From the show floor to the main stage, the key message from everyone in the sector was clear — autonomous trucking has shifted from demonstration to deployment.
Questions that dominated hallway conversations, panel Q&As, and fleet meetings were no longer about whether the technology works. They were about which corridors are commercially ready, how autonomous systems fit inside existing fleet operations, what the performance data actually shows, and when scalable production will start. As an industry, we have spent years in careful validation mode, so this shift to commercialization is quite meaningful for all of us.
PlusAI at ACT Expo 2026
Mainstage Panel: The Virtual Driver Revolutionizing Trucking and Logistics
David Liu, CEO and Co-Founder of PlusAI, joined Aurora, Kodiak, Torc, and Waabi for the mainstage session on autonomous freight, moderated by Olivia Hu of Uber Freight. The panel drew one of the biggest crowds at the conference.
David spoke to PlusAI’s core conviction: that autonomous driving technology exists to take on long-haul driving that is repetitive, physically demanding, and structurally difficult to staff at scale, and that the industry’s challenge has moved from capability to adoption. The technology is already in use on commercially meaningful routes, such as the I-35 Laredo-to-Temple corridor in Texas that we operate with International for Ryder today. The focus now is getting factory-integrated trucks into the hands of fleets at volume, which is precisely why the OEM partnership model matters.
You can see the full discussion here:
Workshop Panel: Mapping the Future — Where Autonomous Vehicles Are Expanding and Why
Our VP of Policy & Regulatory Affairs, Earl Adams Jr., joined a focused regulatory and geographic expansion session.
Earl spoke about what PlusAI looks for before activating a new corridor. On the technical side: clear understanding of the operating design domain, including road geometry, traffic behavior, weather, and emergency response patterns. On the commercial side: routes that carry real freight for real customers. On the policy side: a predictable framework for testing and deployment, including state-level authorization, local agency coordination, and clear reporting requirements. He spoke about the supportive regulation already in place in many states like Texas, with California also recently passing regulation to allow testing and commercialization of autonomous trucks.
Earl’s broader point was that wide-scale AV deployment is not just about having the technology ready. It will require four E’s — Education, Exposure, Evidence, and Evangelizing. Public support will be needed for broad adoption to take place.
Where Things Go from Here
The autonomous trucking industry is entering a phase where execution quality becomes the differentiating variable. Vision and roadmaps have been widely shared. What is being evaluated now is whether companies can run reliably on commercially meaningful routes, generate the operational data that builds confidence with fleets and regulators, and integrate into real fleet operations without disruption.
The conversation at ACT Expo 2026 suggests the industry has the conditions it needs to accelerate. The policy environment is supportive. Fleet interest is substantive and specific. OEM relationships are translating into factory-integrated trucks that are ready for real-world deployment. The real test and focus now is on commercialization.
PlusAI’s Level 4 autonomous driving technology powers the self-driving trucks of global commercial vehicle OEMs including TRATON GROUP’s International, Scania and MAN, IVECO, and Hyundai. Learn more at plus.ai.