Friday, March 29, 2024

Waymo to build a hub for its autonomous trucks in Texas

Alphabet-owned Waymo has announced plans to build a dedicated hub for its self-driving trucks near Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.

The junction in South Dallas will be Waymo’s “core business center” in the state for its autonomous truck fleet. Waymo has already broken ground on the new 9-acre trucking hub, which will be built specifically for Waymo Via, the company’s autonomous driving operations.

Designed for commercial use, the hub is expected to accommodate hundreds of trucks and personnel as the company nears the start of large-scale freight business in the region using its fully autonomous vehicles and enables increasingly large and complex autonomous testing needs. Waymo says it will help the company spread out operations in Texas across I-10, I-20, and I-45.

This trucking hub will not only bolster the company’s operations in Texas but is also well-suited to support long-haul routes across the Southwest and connect with our Phoenix operations center. The company plans to move into the new facility during the first half of next year.

Waymo also said it is partnering with Ryder for fleet management services in a two-pronged move to seriously scale up its autonomous trucking operations across Texas, Arizona, and California. It expects this to help with fleet maintenance, inspections, roadside assistance, and the optimal layout for the Waymo Via hubs and testing sites.

The two companies will also work on a blueprint for autonomous truck maintenance and optimized performance by combining Ryder’s deep maintenance expertise and Waymo’s proprietary AV fleet data to create solutions tailored for Waymo’s technology.