J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. and Waymo are teaming up to test self-driving trucks in Texas, where autonomous vehicle technology companies are finding the Lone Star State fertile ground for developing future freight movement.
J.B. Hunt, one of the largest for-hire truckload carriers in the U.S., and Waymo, an Alphabet Inc. subsidiary that started testing its self-driving Class 8 trucking technology in Texas last year, announced the collaboration on June 10.
The vehicles will be controlled by Waymo Via, the tech company’s Level 4 autonomous driving technology designed for freight movement on heavy-duty trucks. The AV trucks will have humans on board—a commercially licensed driver and a software technician—to monitor the operation.
The freight runs will be along Interstate 45 between distribution facilities in Houston and Fort Worth, which make up the eastern edge of the Texas Triangle. This is the same area where Waymo rivals such as TuSimple, Kodiak Robotics, and Aurora are also conducting Level 4 autonomous truck testing.
“This will be one of the first opportunities for J.B. Hunt to receive data and feedback on customer freight moved with a Class 8 tractor operating at this level of autonomy,” said Craig Harper, chief sustainability officer and executive vice president at J.B. Hunt. “While we believe there will be a need for highly skilled, professional drivers for many years to come, it is important for J.B. Hunt as an industry leader to be involved early in the development of advanced autonomous technologies and driving systems to ensure that their implementation will improve efficiency while enhancing safety.”
Lowell, Arkansas-based J.B. Hunt, the fifth-largest for-hire carrier in the U.S. (according to the 2021 FleetOwner 500 For-Hire list), said the autonomously moved freight would be for one of its “leading customers.” The customer’s name was not disclosed.
Waymo, which started as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, is based in Mountain View, California. Waymo Via is also conducting test runs on Class 8 tractors in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. And the company is developing AV minivans designed for last-mile delivery in Arizona.
Through the collaboration, J.B. Hunt and Waymo Via will be exploring how autonomous driving technology can be integrated across fleets and enhance safety and efficiency, according to a June 10 Waymo blog post. The two companies have worked together recently on operational and market studies that explored topics such as best practices for regular maintenance, what future facility layouts will look like, and which lanes are best suited for autonomous driving technology. The trial run will also help J.B. Hunt and Waymo define how they can continue working together long term, according to a press release.
“We’re thrilled to collaborate with J.B. Hunt as we advance and commercialize the Waymo Driver,” said Charlie Jatt, head of commercialization for trucking at Waymo. “Our teams share an innovative and safety-first mindset as well as a deep appreciation for the potential benefits of autonomous driving technology in trucking. It’s companies and relationships like these that will make this technology a commercial reality in the coming years.”
Over the last decade, the Texas Department of Transportation has been working to lure transportation technology companies to test their products across the state. Most AV companies have focused on the Southwest, where an arid climate and friendly regulations have lured California-based firms.
Much of the intrastate testing is within the Texas Triangle, which encompasses the five largest cities in the state: Dallas-Fort Worth to the north, Houston to the southeast, San Antonio to the southwest—with Austin and College Station among those three points. Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth represent two of the largest freight hubs in the country.
Waymo, as one of the oldest AV technology firms in the U.S, has been developing its AV technology for more than a decade. The company’s Waymo Driver solution has traversed more than 20 million miles on public roads across 10 U.S. states and 20 billion miles in simulation. J.B. Hunt, along with operating one of the largest general freight fleets in North America, offers a digital freight matching technology platform called J.B. Hunt 360°.
