TuSimple inks deal to expand autonomous freight network

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Updated 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 L4 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 on-demand economy is driving a technological transformation within the logistics industry, and through our partnership with TuSimple, the MIZ will be ready to meet that demand."

This new facility will be designed and upfitted to meet TuSimple's operational and technical requirements that accommodate their Operational Design Domain (ODD) and are compatible with the current and future expansion of the TuSimple Autonomous Freight Network. This facility is intended to serve as an origin and destination facility for L4 autonomous trucks utilizing TuSimple's Autonomous Driving System (ADS).

Located just off Interstate 35 near Fort Worth Alliance Airport and near TuSimple's major freight-partner facilities (UPS and DHL), the MIZ is also in close proximity to a major distribution hub and the largest freight market in the United States. Home to the MIZ and one of the nation's largest inland ports, the AllianceTexas submarket encompasses 68 million square feet of industrial facilities.

"We're seeing unprecedented demand for autonomous trucking capacity as the logistics industry looks for ways to become safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly," said TuSimple President and CEO Cheng Lu. "Hillwood's investment in these properties today will make it easier for companies to adopt, integrate and scale autonomous trucking operations."