TuSimple has announced that its first fully-automated trucking route between the Tucson and Phoenix will be used to move freight for Union Pacific Railroad.
From spring 2022, TuSimple will carry Driver Out freight for Union Pacific, using its autonomous vehicle technology to deliver goods in a more efficient and cost-effective manner.
Kenny Rocker, Executive Vice President, Marketing & Sales, Union Pacific, said:Partnering with TuSimple allows us to extend our operations beyond our rail hubs and serve our customers faster and more efficiently. 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.
After completing the world’s first Driver Out semi-truck run in December 2021, TuSimple has now reported an additional six successful fully autonomous runs without a human in the vehicle and with no human intervention. The runs were conducted in various roadway conditions, including heavy evening traffic and back-to-back runs on the same night.
TuSimple now plans to extend the Driver Out programme to include daytime runs and new routes. By the end of 2023, TuSimple plans to achieve commercial viability by initiating continuous paid freight operations in a major shipping area such as the Texas Triangle.
Cheng Lu, TuSimple President and CEO, said: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. We are proud of our on-time delivery of this historic milestone and are excited to shift our full focus to commercialising our ground-breaking technology on an accelerated timeline.
