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Automotive

Waymo begins work on dedicated Texas hub for self-driving trucks

By Nick Lavars
August 18, 2021
Waymo begins work on dedicated Texas hub for self-driving trucks
Waymo has begun work on a dedicated hub for self-driving trucks in Texas, US
Waymo has begun work on a dedicated hub for self-driving trucks in Texas, US
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Waymo has begun work on a dedicated hub for self-driving trucks in Texas, US
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Waymo has begun work on a dedicated hub for self-driving trucks in Texas, US
Waymo's new hub for self-driving trucks will accommodate hundreds of vehicles
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Waymo's new hub for self-driving trucks will accommodate hundreds of vehicles

Alphabet-owned Waymo is looking to gain a strong foothold in the nascent autonomous freight industry, today announcing plans to build a dedicated hub for its self-driving trucks in the state of Texas. The facility will serve as the company's primary base as it scales up operations across the southern US, and will be designed to support commercial services along some of the region's major thoroughfares.

After clocking up millions of self-driving miles with its self-driving cars, Waymo made moves into the world of autonomous freight a few years ago and is now currently testing the fifth generation of its Waymo Driver technology on Class 8 trucks. It has also partnered with Daimler to develop fully autonomous trucking capabilities, and is moving cargo as part of pilot programs around the country.

Waymo's new hub for self-driving trucks will accommodate hundreds of vehicles
Waymo's new hub for self-driving trucks will accommodate hundreds of vehicles

The new facility follows the company's other testing and operations centers around the US, but this one will be built from the ground up specifically for its autonomous trucking division, Waymo Via.

Spanning 9 acres in Dallas-Fort Worth, the center will accommodate hundreds of trucks coming and going, and facilitate larger and more complex testing as the company pursues Level 4 autonomy for its heavy haulers. It is being constructed with commercial operations in mind, to service the I-10, I-20, and I-45 interstate highways.

Alongside the announcement, Waymo also revealed it has partnered with logistics company Ryder to assist on the fleet management side of things. It expects this to help with things like maintenance, both preventative and incidental, and the optimal layout for the new hub. The company plans to move into the new facility early next year.

Source: Waymo

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AutomotiveWaymoAutonomousTruckLogistics
5 comments
Nick Lavars
Nick Lavars
Nick has been writing and editing at New Atlas for over six years, where he has covered everything from distant space probes to self-driving cars to oddball animal science. He previously spent time at The Conversation, Mashable and The Santiago Times, earning a Masters degree in communications from Melbourne’s RMIT University along the way.

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Daishi
Waymo was founded in 2009 and in 2012 they thought it would be commercially available to the public by 2017. Tesla's approach is to launch partially working autonomy and let customers fund the development over time. Waymo's view is they want fully working autonomy before it launches but it will mean funding R&D for decades without a revenue stream. This is smart because it gives Waymo a revenue stream to operate trucks on just 3-4 major highways and they are probably under some pressure to deliver something. I still think general works-everywhere full autonomy probably won't happen in my lifetime. People thought I was stupid for that prediction 5-6 years ago insisting it was merely only a year or 2 away but I think 5-6 years from now the same people will be telling me it's only a year or 2 away then too.
WB
Waymo is getting increasingly desperate to somehow pull a rabbit out of its hat. They have wasted billions, and anyone can see that Tesla is leaps and bounds ahead as it comes to self driving. Their public taxi program in Arizona is a total disaster, so now they are moving on to something else. Now they are humping another leg... the problem with trucking is there's not much of a market there - ultra low margins and you have Tesla's Semi which will spoil also that party. Anyway if I were an investor in Waymo I would NOT walk away, I would run - run like Forrest Gump... run Forrest run!

Waymo is valued at 30 billions. 30 billions! It has never shipped product. Question is who will be left holding the bag once this thing explodes.
Nelson Hyde Chick
In 38 states the most common job is driver of something, a truck, van, taxi, Uber, bus, etc... How are those people going to make a living once their driving jobs are gone?
Derek Howe
Nelson Hyde Chick - That's not a problem, Biden will personally teach them how to code.
Daishi
@Nelson Hyde Chick
That transition would take years and even if it happened over night it would solve our labor shortage. There isn't a single business within 50 miles of me that isn't hiring. Restaurants near me are having to scale back their hours or limit the days of the week they are open because they don't have enough workers. Even in the case of those workers many of them are delivery people that have to both load and unload the vehicle in addition to driving it. Even if you have robots doing that part someone is going to be building all of this stuff. The billions Waymo has spent already has largely been on employing many people. Making the technology ready is one part but making it cheaper than paying humans is another and the only real impact to society would be the costs of many goods would become more affordable with reduction in shipping/delivery costs.