Truck Tech 6.6 | Bot Auto names Brett Suma as president and COO to scale autonomous trucking

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Bot Auto names Brett Suma as president and COO to scale autonomous trucking

(Photo: Bot Auto)

Bot Auto is stacking its leadership bench with trucking veterans as it pivots from technological milestone to commercial scale. The autonomous trucking company named Brett Suma as president and chief operating officer just weeks after completing its first fully humanless commercial load on a public highway.

Suma brings nearly three decades of freight experience, starting at Knight Transportation. He is reuniting with David Stemm as vice president of commercial operations and Jessica Kane as vice president of commercial finance. The trio founded TrailerHawk.ai together before Wabash acquired it in 2025.

“We have proven that humanless commercial truckloads are possible, but we understand that technology alone cannot drive value creation,” said Xiaodi Hou, founder and chief executive officer of Bot Auto. “This industry is complex for good reasons, and building a scalable autonomous freight product requires humility, flexibility and relentless creativity.”

Suma is taking direct aim at competitors trying to bolt autonomous trucks onto legacy networks. “I do the math because it’s very simple math to do,” he said. “They’re just going to continue to run inefficient freight in an inefficient way, but with an autonomous solution.”

The inefficiency is baked into traditional trucking: drivers average only seven to eight hours of actual drive time during an 11-hour shift because origins and destinations don’t communicate efficiently. Mixed fleets create impossible choices between tenured drivers and autonomous assets, often leaving expensive trucks sitting idle.

“We’re building a native AI freight network,” Suma said. “Deploying physical AI as opposed to saying, ‘We already have this network that exists and now we’re going to figure out how to make AV work in it.’”

Bot Auto is now targeting aggressive 2026 milestones including fleet growth and lane expansion across Texas. “Texas is the ideal starting point, and we’re thinking corridor by corridor until we’ve built something the traditional trucking model simply can’t compete with,” Suma said.

How private yards became autonomous trucking’s most promising frontier

(Photo: Thomas Wasson/FreightWaves)

Before launching ISEE AI in 2017, co-founders Yibiao Zhao and Chris Baker spent years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology building artificial intelligence for “collaborative robots.” That “theory of mind” research now powers autonomous yard trucks navigating alongside forklift operators and over-the-road drivers in chaotic, unstructured environments.

“We were building AI for robots to understand social intention: how a robot understands humans in a complex environment, how to navigate similarly to a human,” Zhao said. “At that time we were looking at how this should be very useful for the age of physical AI.”

The company initially targeted highway trucking, hauling loads between Dallas and Houston by 2018. Customers saw the capability but redirected ISEE AI’s focus. “Our customers said, ‘Oh, I really like your technology. Why don’t you look at my backyard?’” Zhao recalled. Private yards offered lower speeds, no public-road regulation and a simpler fail-safe architecture.

The technical challenge shifted to backing — an inherently unstable “inverted pendulum” problem where trailer sizes, tandem positions and weights vary from 10,000 to 45,000 pounds. ISEE AI’s machine learning adapts in seconds, achieving “one-stop, one-shot parking” more than 98 percent of the time.

ISEE AI now operates more than 20 vehicles executing thousands of moves weekly with zero reported safety incidents. With its safety case validated by FEV against ISO 26262 and ISO 21448 standards, the company has finalized its Generation 7 kit and partnered with terminal tractor original equipment manufacturer TICO for 2027 serial production.

“Now we’re ready to really push forward to large-scale deployment,” Zhao said.

Texas Begins Enforcement of Commercial Automated Vehicle Requirements

(Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles is officially enforcing the state’s commercial automated vehicle authorization requirements. It marks a shift from legislation to active oversight for autonomous trucking operations.

As of May 28, 2026, companies operating automated motor vehicles commercially on Texas roads must maintain an active TxDMV-issued authorization. The announcement follows passage of Senate Bill 2807 by the 89th Texas Legislature in 2025. That bill established a statewide regulatory framework for commercial AV operations.

The department has launched an Automated Motor Vehicle Lookup page where the public and law enforcement can verify whether a company is properly authorized. The portal also enables submission of public safety complaints related to commercially operated AVs — a crowdsourced oversight mechanism that could prove significant as autonomous freight scales across the state.

Enforcement jurisdiction splits between agencies: TxDMV handles authorization issuance and administers enforcement related to authorization use compliance, while the Texas Department of Public Safety and local law enforcement agencies retain authority for on-road safety enforcement and oversight of traffic law compliance.

Texas remains a primary testing and deployment corridor for autonomous freight. This regulatory structure serves as a bellwether for how other states may approach commercial AV oversight. A clear authorization framework offers predictability for investors evaluating autonomous trucking investments.

Briefly noted …

Daimler Truck North America named Rakesh Aneja senior vice president of engineering and technology, succeeding Randy DeBortoli, who is retiring after more than 33 years with the company. Aneja, who led corporate development and autonomous technology initiatives, brings nearly three decades of engineering leadership. He joins the operating committee overseeing technology strategy and product development. (Daimler Truck)

British Columbia is set to become the first Canadian province requiring dashboard cameras on commercial vehicles. The Dashboard Cameras in Commercial Vehicles Act cleared third reading unanimously in late May and awaits royal assent. Once approved, the law takes effect six months later, with detailed regulations covering camera specifications and compliance still to come. (FreightWaves)

Orange EV secured a 600-truck order — the largest in company history. It signals yard electrification has moved beyond pilot programs into standardization. With more than 1,900 trucks deployed and leasing activity up 272 percent, fleets are embracing flexible financing to scale electric operations without heavy upfront capital. (Fleet Owner)

The American Transportation Research Institute is conducting a follow-up survey on onboard safety technology adoption under the TechCelerate program, sponsored by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The research will compare findings against the 2023 baseline, capturing motor carrier preferences and truck driver experiences with safety systems to improve messaging and issue resolution. (The Trucker)

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As always, thanks for watching and reading.

Thomas Wasson

twasson@firecrown.com

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