Waymo, the U.S. leader in autonomous vehicles, is expanding its robot truck program by moving to Texas with a new depot in Dallas that will serve as a hub for its 18-wheel fleet.
Waymo tells Forbes about his Dallas semi-final this week and Silicon Valley-based corporate plans to rent authorized local truckers to help with road testing as protective drivers. You’ll start with a transitority installation this month as you’re looking for a long-term base of operations. Road mapping in Texas and New Mexico with high-definition cameras and sensors for Waymo’s autonomous minivans ended in March, before truck testing began in April, before the Covid-19 pandemic was delayed. Waymo doesn’t say how much he’s investing in the project.
Alphabet’s existing fleet of thirteen Peterbilt trucks, loaded with virtual cameras, lidar laser sensors, radar and computer system, will operate on I-10, I-20 and I-45 and other high-capacity industrial routes between Texas and New Mexico. “In addition to improving our transportation capabilities, we are excited to explore how our generation can be simply to create new transportation responses in Texas, which has a higher shipping volume and provides a favorable environment for the deployment of autonomous vehicles,” the company said. .
“Our location and reliable transportation formula make Dallas-Fort Worth a cargo hub,” said Tom Bamonte, senior director of the Automated Car Program at the North Central Texas Board of Governors. “Dallas-Fort Worth’s selection of Waymo for its automated transportation hub is helping the region prepare for the long-term transportation of cargo and its leadership position.”
The company, which began as an internal assignment from Google a decade ago, said last month that it grossed a total of $3.2 billion in its first external fundraiser, with investments from corporations such as Magna International, Andreessen Horowitz, AutoNation, T. Rowe Price, Perry. Creek Capital, Fidelity Management and its parent company Alphabet.
From Los Angeles, the American capital of automobile and congestion, I check to understand the technological adjustments that are reshaping transportation, cities, and the way we move. I’ve been
From Los Angeles, the American capital of automobiles and congestion, I check to understand the technological adjustments that are reshaping transportation, cities, and the way we move. I have followed global automakers, complex vehicle generation and environmental policies for over two decades, adding 15 years at Bloomberg, and I have been in the monetary and corporate world. What’s your story?