Waymo and J.B. Hunt expand autonomous trucking partnership
The companies will continue to work closely together as they expand self-driving semi efforts in Texas.
Back in the summer of 2021, we reported on a newly formed partnership between autonomous vehicle developer Waymo and trucking company J.B. Hunt. Well, now, according to a blog post published on Friday by Waymo, that partnership has gotten more serious.
The original partnership saw J.B. Hunt using Waymo's Via artificial intelligence to conduct trucking runs between Fort Worth and Houston, Texas. This new arrangement will expand the program to other areas of Texas with the goal of Waymo setting up fully autonomous operations in coming years.
"Our pilot last year with Waymo Via really helped us get a hands-on understanding of how autonomous driving technology could be implemented within our operations," said Craig Harper, chief sustainability officer for J.B. Hunt, in a statement. "We believe autonomous driving technology will help us create the most efficient transportation network in North America, and our collaboration with Waymo Via is a pivotal step towards fulfilling that mission."
Waymo isn't the only autonomous vehicle developer looking to expand into trucking. Still, as seems to be the case with its autonomous passenger vehicles, it appears the closest to fully realizing the technology.
