J.B. Hunt, Waymo Add Wayfair to Autonomous Trucking Program
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J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. and Waymo added the home goods company Wayfair to its autonomous trucking program, the companies announced June 28.
Wayfair will have some shipments delivered by autonomous trucks as part of a six-plus weeks pilot during July and August. The pilot will take place along the Interstate 45 corridor between Houston and Dallas. Data relating to delivery logistics, loading freight and autonomous performance will be evaluated.
“Real-time testing with customers like Wayfair is critical to making autonomous freight movement a viable solution in the future,” Craig Harper, chief sustainability officer and executive vice president at J.B. Hunt, said. “Every supply chain is unique, so it’s important that customers can work alongside J.B. Hunt and Waymo to ensure that advanced autonomous technology will create capacity that meets their needs.”
As part of our ongoing collaboration with @Waymo, we’re excited to begin a new pilot moving #Freight for @Wayfair. The pilot will help us work toward our long-term vision of completing a fully #Autonomous delivery. Learn more! #AutonomousDriving #WaymoVia https://t.co/BYcJVlCoAZ — J.B. Hunt 360 (@jbhunt360) June 28, 2022
J.B. Hunt and Waymo have been working toward fully autonomous commercial transport as part of a long-term collaboration. J.B. Hunt uses autonomous Class 8 trucking units that are powered by the Waymo Driver technology. The Wayfair pilot is the latest step in that partnership. It will be the first in-depth transportation of home furnishings retail freight as part of the collaboration.
“Expanding our alliance with J.B. Hunt and beginning to move freight together for Wayfair is an exciting next step toward applying the Waymo Driver technology to commercial goods delivery,” John Verdon, trucking lead of business development and partnerships at Waymo, said. “We couldn’t be more delighted to work alongside companies who share our innovative spirit and excitement for what autonomous driving technology can mean for the trucking industry.”
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. ranks No. 4 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America. It also ranks No. 5 on the TT list of the 100 largest logistics companies in North America. — Transport Topics
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