Arkansas-based J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ: JBHT) and California-based Waymo (a part of Google-parent Alphabet) announced today that their collaboration on autonomous trucking technology would include a pilot program with J.B. Hunt customer and home e-commerce retailer Wayfair, according to a news release.
The pilot program will be six weeks long in July and August along the Interstate 45 corridor between Houston and Dallas, which was the location of J.B. Hunt and Waymo’s original pilot one year ago.
According to the release, it will be the first in-depth transportation of home furnishings. It will be the first in-depth transportation of home furnishings for J.B. Hunt and Waymo Via, which is the name of Waymo’s autonomous Class 8 trucking unit.
“Real-time testing with customers like Wayfair is critical to making autonomous freight movement a viable solution in the future,” Craig Harper, chief sustainability officer and executive vice president at J.B. Hunt, said in the release. “Every supply chain is unique, so it’s important that customers can work alongside J.B. Hunt and Waymo to ensure that advanced autonomous technology will create capacity that meets their needs. Through shared experiences, technology integration and innovative thinking, autonomous technology can help us advance J.B. Hunt’s mission to create the most efficient transportation network in North America.”
Throughout the pilot program, the companies will monitor and evaluate data relating to delivery logistics, loading and unloading freight, autonomous performance, and factors influencing the overall driving and non-driving experience.
“Expanding our alliance with J.B. Hunt and beginning to move freight together for Wayfair is an exciting next step toward applying the Waymo Driver technology to commercial goods delivery,” John Verdon, trucking lead, business development and partnerships at Waymo, said in the release. “We couldn’t be more delighted to work alongside companies who share our innovative spirit and excitement for what autonomous driving technology can mean for the trucking industry.”
After their successful pilot in 2021, J.B. Hunt and Waymo extended their collaboration earlier this year with a vision to complete the first fully autonomous commercial freight transport network.
“At Wayfair, innovation is at the core of everything we do, and this pilot with J.B. Hunt and Waymo is a great example of this,” Sean Halligan, Wayfair’s chief global supply chain officer, said in the release. “We’re excited to continue our work with J.B. Hunt and their willingness to collaborate with us on this autonomous commercial vehicle test as a part of our overall strategy to evolve our logistics strategies and end-to-end supply chain solutions.”
