Plus.ai announced it has completed the first coast-to-coast freight run with an autonomous truck on behalf of Land O’Lakes.
Plus.ai called the shipment the first Level 4 cross-country commercial pilot hauling a fully loaded refrigerated trailer of perishable cargo in the United States.
The tractor-trailer traveled primarily in autonomous mode from California to Pennsylvania in less than three days. During the 2,800-mile trip, the truck passed through varied terrains and weather conditions across Interstate 15 and Interstate 70.
A safety driver was on board at all times, and an engineer was present to monitor Level 4 autonomous system operations.
The trip “shows the safety, efficiency and maturity of our autonomous trucks, which are already delivering freight for other partners several days a week,” said Shawn Kerrigan, COO and co-founder of Plus.ai. “Continued advances in our autonomous trucks will make it possible for these quick cross-country runs to be the norm in the future. We are excited to demonstrate what our technology can already achieve today while meeting rigorous autonomous driving safely and food transportation compliance standards.”
The truck was equipped with the company’s advanced autonomous driving system, which utilizes multimodal sensor fusion, visual algorithms, and simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technologies.
“End of the year is a very busy time for us. To be able to address this peak demand with a fuel- and cost-effective freight transport solution will be tremendously valuable to our business,” said Yone Dewberry, Land O’Lakes’ chief supply chain officer.
Land O’Lakes ranks No. 133 on the 2019 Fleet Owner 500 list of the largest private carriers.
Last month, Plus.ai announced a deal with the Minnesota Dept. of Transportation to test its autonomous technology at the state’s cold-weather pavement testing facility. The goal is to study how difficult winter conditions affect the movement of Plus.ai’s trucks.
