[AutonomousVehicles] Fedex Testing Self Driving Vehicles on A Delivery Route for the First Time

[Cornelius Butler]

Hi Everyone,
Fedex is testing self-driving vehicles on an actual route for the first
time ever.

Below is the article link and text.

Article Link:
https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/22/fedex-to-test-auroras-self-driving-trucks-on-dallas-to-houston-route/

Article Text:

FedEx to test Aurora’s self-driving trucks on Dallas-to-Houston route
Kirsten Korosec
@kirstenkorosec / 11:01 AM EDT•September 22, 2021

FedEx has started to use self-driving trucks to haul goods between Dallas
and Houston as part of a pilot program with autonomous vehicle startup
Aurora and heavy-duty vehicle manufacturer Paccar.

Paccar trucks that are equipped with Aurora’s technology will be used
multiple times a week to complete the nearly 500-mile route along
Interstate 45, the companies said Wednesday. The trucks will operate
autonomously with a backup safety driver.

The partnership marks the latest progress by Aurora to meet its target to
launch an autonomous trucking business that hauls loads between terminals
without a safety driver by the end of 2023. It is also part of a string of
announcements and updates made by the company in recent weeks ahead of a
vote on its reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company
Reinvent Technology Partners Y, the SPAC launched by LinkedIn co-founder
and investor Reid Hoffman, Zynga founder Mark Pincus and managing partner
Michael Thompson.

The combined company, which will be listed on Nasdaq with the ticker symbol
AUR, will have an implied valuation of $13 billion. Aurora was last valued
at $10 billion following its acquisition of Uber’s self-driving unit.

“This is really about exploring and understanding the kind of changes that
would need to be made to the truck,” Sterling Anderson, co-founder and CPO
of Aurora told TechCrunch, adding that this includes how the self-driving
system and the cloud services it provides fits with FedEx’s operations.

The pilot will involve a small number of trucks, Anderson said. “It doesn’t
make sense to launch huge pilots right off the bat,” he said. “With a
handful of trucks operating regularly, we can really start to suss out any
of the tweaks and refinements to the product in the interface.”

There is no end date to the pilot, and Anderson expects it to evolve and
extend beyond these handful of trucks on the Dallas-to-Houston route as the
company gets closer to a driverless capable product.

The pilot, which was launched Wednesday, follows a strategic announcement
earlier this year between Aurora and Paccar to develop, test and
commercialize autonomous Peterbilt and Kenworth trucks.

The partnership also illustrates FedEx’s interest in autonomous and
robotics solutions, as the company continues to experience record delivery
volumes. In June, the logistics giant announced a multiyear, multiphased
strategic partnership to test and ultimately deploy Nuro’s next-generation
autonomous delivery vehicle within FedEx operations.
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