Herbie better watch his back. Because these days, there’s other self-driving vehicles roaming around, and they’ve got some size on him.
In September, FedEx announced that it was collaborating with Paccar, the Washington-based truck manufacturer, and Aurora Innovation, the Pittsburg-based self-driving vehicle technology company, to launch a commercial pilot test of autonomous trucks in linehaul trucking operations. Autonomously enabled trucks started hauling FedEx loads between Dallas and Houston, a 500-mile trip along Texas’ I-45 corridor.
Flash forward to the present, and that pilot has been successful enough to warrant expansion.
On May 18, FedEx and Aurora announced they had expanded the pilot program to autonomously move FedEx shipments on an additional commercial lane in Texas. In March, Aurora’s autonomous trucks — which are based on Paccar’s Peterbilt 579 model — started to transport FedEx shipments between Aurora’s new terminals in Fort Worth and El Paso.
With safety drivers on board, Aurora is making the 600-mile trip on a weekly basis, and it expects to increase the frequency of the journey in the coming months.
“Aurora has been a like-minded collaborator, helping us learn from and grow our autonomous trucking solutions,” said Rebecca Yeung, FedEx corporate VP, operations science and advanced technology, in a press release. “We look forward to our continued work together as we test further integration of autonomous technology into our operations to build a collaborative, robust network of solutions to respond to growing customer demand.”
Aurora will also continue to move FedEx shipments between Dallas and Houston, where, so far, it’s found success. Since the pilot’s start in September, the deliveries of FedEx shipments on the route have been “100% on time,” according to the release. Thousands of FedEx customers have received packages that were autonomously transported, and the companies have completed 60,000 miles of travel without any safety incidents.
The pilot’s expansion comes as logistics companies continue to grapple with increased demand and a labor shortage, which has hampered FedEx. Though FedEx execs have said that the labor situation is improving, it’s affected the business’ earnings in FY 2022, costing it about $450 million in Q1, $470 million in Q2, and $350 million in Q3.
Aurora isn’t the only autonomous vehicle company FedEx is working with. For example, in June, the delivery services giant announced it had signed a multiyear, multiphase agreement with Nuro Inc. — the California-based autonomous vehicle company — to test its autonomous delivery vehicle.
And in March, its largest subsidiary, FedEx Express, revealed it had partnered with South San Francisco-based Elroy Air, which is developing autonomous aircraft systems and software. Express is expected to test Elroy's signature product, the Chaparral, an autonomous vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aerial cargo system that can lift 300 to 500 pounds, and carry it up to 300 miles.
