Who loads and unloads a driverless truck? The local jobs autonomous trucking creates
If there's no driver, who loads, unloads, inspects, fuels and hooks up the trailer? Here's who does it today (mostly not the driver), how the transfer-hub model splits the work, and the local jobs it creates, from first and last-mile drivers to terminal operators and inspectors.
On most truckload freight, the driver already doesn't load or unload. Dock workers at the shipper and receiver do, sometimes paid lumpers, while the driver waits. Detention runs past two hours on about 39% of stops. Driverless trucks don't change who works the dock. They change who drives to it. In the likely transfer-hub model, driverless trucks run between highway-side hubs, and local drivers haul trailers between the hubs and the customers' docks. At the hubs, people inspect, fuel, couple and move trucks, with one Aurora terminal posting paying $30–38 an hour. That's real local work on standby, but it comes with a caution about pay and contracting.
A question people ask as soon as they hear "driverless truck": if nobody's driving, who unloads it? Today, the answer is often "the driver helps". So does autonomy mean a job opening for someone local, on standby at every dock?
The short version: the driver mostly isn't doing the loading now, the docks keep doing it, and the real new local jobs are at the hubs and on the first and last mile.
A quick note on electric trucks, because they get mixed into this. An electric truck like the Tesla Semi still has a driver, so it changes nothing about who loads and unloads. Autonomy is the thing that removes the person from the cab (what's real in 2026).
Who loads and unloads today
Mostly the shipper's and receiver's staff. On dry van and refrigerated truckload, which is the freight autonomy targets first, drivers rarely load or unload (UC Berkeley Labor Center). The truck is backed to a dock, and warehouse workers with forklifts do the work. That's a big workforce already: about 2.9 million hand laborers and material movers, with a median wage around $40,000 (BLS).
Sometimes lumpers. Some receivers require a third-party crew, called lumpers, to unload. For interstate shipments, federal law says a shipper or receiver that requires loading or unloading help must provide it or compensate the truck's owner or operator for it, and it's illegal to coerce the driver into doing the work or paying for it (49 U.S.C. 14103). In practice, drivers still often front lumper fees and wait for reimbursement (FreightWaves).
Sometimes the driver. In a 2023 survey by the owner-operator association OOIDA's research foundation, about 55% of respondents said they never load or unload their own truck. The rest do it occasionally or regularly (OOIDA Foundation). It's a small survey of mostly small carriers.
Flatbed is different. On open-deck freight such as steel, rebar and building materials, the shipper loads with a crane or forklift, but the driver secures the load with chains and straps and tarps it. That's skilled, physical work, and it's one of the hardest parts of trucking to automate.
And drivers wait. The American Transportation Research Institute found detention (waiting more than two hours) on 39.3% of stops, and 56.2% for refrigerated loads. It costs drivers 117 to 209 hours a year, and cost the industry $3.6 billion in direct expenses plus $11.5 billion in lost productivity in 2023 (ATRI).
How a driverless load actually moves
Autonomous trucks aren't headed for the customer's dock soon. The model most studies expect, and Aurora and Kodiak run today, is the transfer hub:
- First mile, human. A local driver hauls the loaded trailer from the shipper's dock to a hub next to the interstate.
- Hub. People inspect the truck and trailer, fuel it and couple the trailer.
- Middle mile, driverless. The autonomous truck runs the long interstate stretch to a hub near the destination.
- Hub again. The trailer is dropped and staged.
- Last mile, human. A local driver takes the trailer to the receiver's dock, where the receiver's staff unload it as they always have.
So the answer to "who unloads it?" is the same people as today. The driverless truck never touches the dock. What changes is who drives to the dock, and a new set of jobs appears at the hubs.
Drop-and-hook fits this naturally. Instead of a driver waiting while a trailer is loaded, loaded trailers are staged and swapped. About 80% of Werner's one-way truckload business is already drop-and-hook, and C.H. Robinson handles about 2,700 drop-trailer shipments a day (Trucking Dive).
The local jobs autonomy creates
| Job | What it involves | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| First and last-mile drivers | Hauling trailers between customer docks and hubs, often drop-and-hook | The core of the transfer-hub model (UC Berkeley, Uber Freight) |
| Terminal operators | Preparing and inspecting autonomous trucks, moving Class 8 trucks around the yard | An Aurora posting in Houston, since removed, paid $30–38 an hour, with a Class A CDL preferred but not required |
| Certified inspectors | A zero-defect inspection at the origin, in place of the driver's pre-trip, taking 30–40 minutes | Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance program with a 40-hour course (HDT); Kodiak reported only 59% of partner trailers passed at first (Kodiak) |
| Fueling and truck stop staff | Fueling, securing and releasing trucks at partner truck stops | Aurora is piloting truck stops where staff fuel the truck (Aurora Q2 2026 letter) |
| Technicians | Maintenance and sensor calibration at hubs | Ryder provides on-site technicians at Kodiak's Houston truckport (Kodiak) |
| Remote assistance and dispatch | Monitoring trucks, planning missions, helping a truck that asks for guidance | New roles described by the companies (Transport Topics) |
| Dock and lumper crews | Loading and unloading at shippers and receivers, as today | Already a 2.9 million-person workforce (BLS) |
| Securement crews for flatbed | Chaining, strapping and tarping open-deck loads, if flatbed goes driverless | Today the driver does this; it would need a person at the origin or hub |
The UC Berkeley study projected more than 100,000 jobs at transfer hubs as autonomy scales (UC Berkeley).
Is "local labor on standby" a real opportunity?
Yes, with two conditions.
The work is real and local. Hubs sit next to specific interstates, and trucks arrive around the clock. Each one needs people to inspect, fuel, couple and move trucks, and local drivers to run trailers to and from customers. That work can't be done remotely.
The pay isn't guaranteed. The same Berkeley study warned that hub drayage could look like port trucking, where contracted drivers earned less than employees ($28,783 versus about $35,000 at the time) and worked about 59 hours a week. Whether hub jobs are good jobs depends on whether operators hire employees or contract the work out. Aurora's early terminal-operator posting, at $30–38 an hour, is a good sign.
For people near the first autonomous corridors (Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, El Paso, Phoenix, Laredo, Oklahoma City), the practical path is a Class A CDL, a local or drayage job, and an eye on terminal operator and inspector openings.
What this means for freight brokers
- A load becomes three legs. First-mile drayage, a driverless middle and last-mile drayage. Someone has to coordinate the handoffs, appointments and trailer pools. That's broker work.
- Local capacity near hubs becomes valuable. Relationships with drayage carriers near autonomous hubs will matter more than long-haul relationships on those lanes.
- Accessorials don't go away. Lumper fees, detention and appointments still happen at the dock. Tracking them per load matters as much as ever.
- Flatbed stays human longest. Securement and tarping keep open-deck freight, the kind many SmartLoads customers move, in human hands well beyond the first wave of autonomy.
For the jobs picture overall, see our 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20-year outlook.
Frequently asked questions
Who unloads a driverless truck?
The same people who unload most trucks today: the receiver's dock workers or a lumper crew. In the transfer-hub model, a driverless truck runs between highway hubs, and a human driver takes the trailer the last mile to the dock.
Do truck drivers load and unload their own trucks?
On most dry van and refrigerated truckload freight, no. Dock staff do. In one owner-operator survey, about 55% never load or unload. Flatbed drivers secure and tarp their loads, and some carriers require driver assistance.
What jobs will autonomous trucks create?
First and last-mile drivers, terminal operators, certified inspectors, fueling and truck stop staff, technicians and remote assistance operators. A UC Berkeley study projected more than 100,000 jobs at transfer hubs.
What is a transfer hub in autonomous trucking?
A terminal next to the interstate where trailers switch between human-driven local trucks and driverless long-haul trucks. People inspect, fuel and couple trucks there. Aurora operates terminals near Dallas and Houston.
Who pays for lumpers?
For interstate shipments, 49 U.S.C. 14103 requires a shipper or receiver that requires loading or unloading help to provide it or compensate the truck's owner or operator. It's illegal to coerce the driver into doing the work or paying for it, though drivers often advance lumper fees and are reimbursed.