Autonomous Vehicles

Uber Freight said that since last month Aurora’s self-driving trucks have been completing roundtrip hauls and delivering live commercial freight without a driver behind the wheel, making it the, “first logistics platform to offer commercial freight on public roads with fully driverless Class 8 trucks.”

Companies like Amazon and FedEx are investing in autonomous drones and robots to streamline last-mile deliveries.

Corvus Robotics has launched Corvus One, an autonomous drone system for inventory management. The AI-driven, infrastructure-free drones are designed to streamline warehouse operations.

From labor shortages to demand for ever-improved operational flexibility, this typically ignored class of trucks offers a chance to rethink your processes and even how you approach materials handling.

While there are several sides to this, and there will most assuredly be major issues to overcome, a tectonic shift is coming.

The Department of Energy predicts an increase of 38% in electricity consumption by 2050, which will be a challenge tomeet, but the Environmental Protection Agency has recently addressed this and other “myths” commonly trotted out.

This is a game-changing transformation for transportation, with much the same impact of the jump from sail to steam power and steam to diesel propulsion.

With an eye on a multi-phase commercial and technology partnership to deploy Volvo Autonomous Solutions’ (V.A.S.) autonomous transport solution on the its network, Chicago-based Uber Freight said this week it will be one of Volvo’s first customers to pilot its hub-to-hub autonomous offering, in which Volvo will provide autonomous freight capacity to Uber Freight shippers on select routes, starting in Texas.

Less than eight months after Minneapolis, Minn.-based global logistics services provider and freight forwarder C.H. Robinson and Mountain View, Calif.-based Waymo Via, the trucking and local delivery unit of autonomous driving technology company Waymo, announced a long-term strategic partnership focused on mutually exploring the practical application of autonomous driving technology in both logistics and supply chains, the companies recently heralded examples of their partnership in action on a 222-mile Texas-based “beer run” lane, from Dallas to Houston,...

Operations are deploying autonomous lift trucks to offset pressures like rising order volumes and the inability to secure enough skilled operators. The ironic tinge here is that even though industry needs robots, it turns out the robots need people.

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The companies said that the objective of the partnership is to connect their respective technologies and deploy autonomous trucks at scale on the Uber Freight network, while meshing Waymo’s autonomous driving technology with Uber Freight’s network and marketplace technology.

Memphis-based global freight transportation and logistics services bellwether FedEx and Pittsburgh-based Aurora Innovation Inc., a provider of self-driving technology, recently announced they have taken steps to expand their pilot program, which they have been collaborating on for more than six months, in which FedEx shipments will autonomously move on a new commercial lane in Texas.

Once considered the purvey of the far-off future, autonomous lift trucks have arrived. Here’s what they can offer.

C.H. Robinson and Waymo officials said that this partnership meshes the Waymo Driver, Waymo’s autonomous technology, with Navisphere, C.H. Robinson’s Navisphere, its connected logistics platform, which provides end-to-end visibility, consistent business processes, and strategy-driven business intelligence on a global basis.