The San Diego startup TuSimple has for several weeks been carrying cargo across Arizona. The Venture capital arm of United Parcel Service, Inc (NYSE:UPS) is making a minority investment in TuSimple. UPS disclosed these details on Thursday adding that it was aware of the TuSimple business activities. The startup has been moving UPS loads between Tucson and Phoenix, which is a 115-mile route.
UPS confirmation
An official working with UPS confirms that for the very first time they are now revealing their business activities with TuSimple.UPS says it has been great working with TuSimple which with its autonomous trucks delivered packages effectively. All packages arrived at the different point s of destination in a good state.
Earlier, TuSimple and the United States Postal Service spearheaded a pilot program spanning about two weeks. This program focused on mail deliveries between Dallas and Phoenix, which happens to be a 1,000-mile trip.
TuSimple looks forward to a much brighter future where it will manage to reduce the average shipping costs. To achieve this, it will have to use a tractor-trailer as was disclosed by a company insider. The UPS Ventures managing partner Todd Lewis has applauded the latest partnership.
Lewis opines collaboration with startups to explore new technologies and tailor them to help meet our specific needs.
Several reporters pressured UPS to disclose the terms of the deal. However, the Company remained tight-lipped regarding the matter. On the other hand, TuSimple declined to make immediate responses to questions from journalists.
The partnership and an outlook into the future
The autonomous tech of TuSimple is such that it relies upon some two LIDAR sensors and nine cameras. This is in regards to the Navistar vehicles.
An announcement regarding the partnership outlines that TuSimple has been a helpful partner to UPS. That is in regards to assisting it in understanding how to get to the Level 4 autonomous driving. This is a level where a vehicle is fully autonomous and can move to a particular point or location.
In the meantime, all the TuSimple trucks moving UPS packages will have safety drivers onboard and engineers as well. The time that UPS won’t need someone behind the wheel anymore is that point when it reaches level 4.
