The driverless trucking company that has already made multiple fully autonomous journeys between Tucson and Phoenix has announced a logistics partnership that it hopes will increase the number of its driverless trucks on the roads.
TuSimple Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: TSP), which is headquartered in San Diego but has a base of operations in Tucson, said it is working with Denver-based third-party logistics service platform Loadsmith to facilitate the use of TuSimple’s SAE Level 4 autonomous technology by major shipping and logistics carrier businesses.
The deal includes an initial reservation of 350 autonomous trucks for operation in 2024 using TuSimple’s autonomous freight network — which to date has more than 11,500 unique mapped miles and will continue to grow, the company said.
TuSimple said it plans to be carrying paid freight in Arizona and Texas by the end of 2023.
"Loadsmith is an ideal partner to adopt, integrate and scale our autonomous trucking technology into their operations," TuSimple co-founder and CEO Xiaodi Hou said in a statement. "This new partnership further validates the appetite for SAE L4 technologies alongside the TuSimple autonomous freight network fostering the expedited commercialization of safe, efficient, and sustainable transportation of freight throughout the United States."
TuSimple announced in December that it had completed an autonomous semitruck run covering the more than 100 miles between Tucson and Phoenix, and by early February it said it had logged 550 driverless and unassisted miles in Arizona, and it announced its first autonomous trucking customer in Union Pacific railroad.
The runs were described as “driver-out,” meaning they involved no human intervention or operator either inside or outside the trucks. The runs will continue test runs through 2022 in preparation for full commercialization, the company said.
For Loadsmith, which has a location in Phoenix, the partnership is seen as a component in its mission to address the driver shortage in North America.
"TuSimple's innovations will allow us to provide state-of-the-art SAE L4 automation to customers operating along the rapidly advancing autonomous freight network," Loadsmith CEO Brett Suma said in a statement. "Loadsmith prides itself on providing our customers with cutting-edge solutions that enhance on-time delivery with the lowest total cost of operation, and TuSimple's proven driver-out capabilities provides the prime path for us to do so."
TuSimple's stock price has drifted downward from its price of $36.39 at the start of the year. Shares dropped by 4% in Wednesday trading to close at $12.73. Track the stock here.
