Automated Trucks Will Soon Haul Freight For Union Pacific Railroad
Automated Trucks Will Soon Haul Freight For
Union Pacific Railroad
TUESDAY, FEB 08, 2022 - 10:20 AM
By David
Lester of RTandS.com
TuSimple, a global autonomous driving technology company,
announced that Union Pacific Railroad, the largest Class I railroad in the
U.S., will become the first customer to move freight on TuSimple’s
fully-automated trucking route between the Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona metro
areas. Union Pacific is leveraging Loup Logistics (Loup), a wholly-owned
subsidiary, to coordinate the freight shipment and support seamless movement
between rail and the critical first and last mile. Starting this spring,
TuSimple plans to carry Driver Out freight for Union Pacific, utilizing
groundbreaking AV (autonomous vehicle) technology to deliver goods to their
destination faster and more cost-effectively.
“Partnering with TuSimple allows us to extend our operations
beyond our rail hubs and serve our customers faster and more efficiently,” said Kenny
Rocker, Executive Vice President – Marketing & Sales, Union Pacific.
“This groundbreaking autonomous driving technology and our partnership provide
us a significant opportunity to scale the technology in our network,
proactively reducing global supply chain congestion.”
Going forward, TuSimple plans to continue its Driver Out program
and progressively expand its scope to incorporate daytime runs and new routes
while making regular improvements to its proprietary AV technology. By the end
of 2023, TuSimple plans to achieve commercial viability by initiating
continuous Driver Out paid freight operations in a significant shipping area
such as the Texas Triangle.
“Our repeatable and scalable ‘Driver Out’ operations marks a
significant inflection point in our company’s history. We are the world’s first
to complete all of the features of AV trucking technology,” said Cheng
Lu, President, and CEO, TuSimple. “We are proud of our on-time
delivery of this historic milestone and are excited to shift our full focus to
commercializing our ground-breaking technology on an accelerated timeline.”
TuSimple continues to advance autonomous freight lanes across the sunbelt, making the movement of freight safe, fast, and efficient. To scale its operations in preparation for a nationwide expansion, the company recently provided technical specifications to commercial real-estate developers to prepare for future autonomous trucking operations, including a million square foot state-of-the-art facility within a 27,000-square-acre development as part of the AllianceTexas.
To date, TuSimple has over 11,000 unique mapped miles in its
Autonomous Freight Network and plans to continue to scale its operations to
support its distribution partners.
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/automated-trucks-will-soon-haul-freight-union-pacific-railroad
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