Trucking news and briefs for Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022:
Autonomous driving technology startup TuSimple has reached an agreement with one of the largest industrial and commercial real estate developers in the country that expands the TuSimple "Autonomous Freight Network."
Hillwood, an acquirer and developer of industrial properties, will integrate TuSimple's infrastructure specifications into current and future industrial and commercial properties, starting with a million square foot state-of-the-art facility built within its 27,000-square-acre AllianceTexas development. The AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ) provides partner companies access to a testing and commercialization ecosystem, freight-critical resources, and partnerships to comprehensively adopt, integrate and scale so-called "Level 4" autonomous trucking operations.
Hillwood Chairman Ross Perot, Jr., said his company chose to partner with TuSimple "to provide the guidance and technical parameters required to prepare this new facility for the rapid adoption and expansion of autonomous trucking operations throughout the region and beyond."
The new facility will be designed and upfitted to meet TuSimple's operational and technical requirements for a facility intended to serve as an origin and destination facility for Level 4 autonomous trucks.
Located just off Interstate 35 near Fort Worth Alliance Airport and near TuSimple's major freight-partner facilities (UPS and DHL), the facility will sit in close proximity to a major distribution hub and the largest freight market in the United States.
[Related: Why would a career owner-op go to work for an autonomous-driving startup?]
