Dual-mode vehicles that can travel on roads and rails have been around for a while now, with the idea first having been explored over a century ago. In 2025, we’re going autonomous: a Utah-based startup is set to launch a pilot project running its autonomous road-rail vehicle on California’s Skunk Train route this year.
Glid Technologies, which hails from Salt Lake City, has partnered with Mendocino Railway to integrate the former’s Glider M hybrid-powered manned road-to-rail vehicle, along with an autonomous version, onto the 40-mile heritage and freight route along the Willits-to-Fort Bragg corridor in California.
Road-to-rail vehicles, sometimes called hi-rail vehicles, typically find use in transporting goods, infrastructure construction and utility maintenance work, and emergency response. From Glid’s website, it appears the company is focused purely on moving cargo at this point: mined materials, agricultural produce, waste, and military equipment.
New Atlas 
