For autonomous trucks to reach their full potential and have an immediate impact on today’s roads, it’s critical the entire ecosystem understands how to seamlessly integrate this technology into existing supply chains, ensuring a smooth transition toward building a more efficient and sustainable logistics ecosystem. Uber Freight’s vast logistics network—one of the most comprehensive in the world, representing $18 billion in active Freight Under Management (FUM) and over 100,000 digitally-enabled carriers—holds critical learnings about how goods move successfully nationwide. These insights, such as analyzing shippers’ networks and volume patterns to identify the most effective lanes and most suitable commercial applications for autonomous trucking deployment, are essential to paving the way for the integration of this technology long-term. 

Through this partnership, Torc will tap directly into Uber Freight’s network to accelerate the development of autonomous trucks, exploring insights including, but not limited to, which lanes are optimal for deployment, how to prioritize the rollout of lanes and various operational design domains, balancing supply and demand across supply chains with autonomous trucks, where to build transfer hubs to minimize local haul costs, and more.

“As we have always said, collaboration in the autonomous trucking industry is paramount to the technology’s deployment at scale. Our partnership with Uber Freight is a prime example of how working together with industry players will ensure the technology is integrated seamlessly, safely, and efficiently,” said Peter Vaughan Schmidt, Torc’s CEO. “This partnership is a natural expansion of our initial working relationship through TAAC, and leveraging Uber Freight’s data and insights will help our mission to commercialize autonomous trucks at scale by 2027.”

This partnership is a significant step forward toward commercial autonomous trucking adoption. Autonomous trucks present a monumental opportunity to revolutionize the logistics industry as we know it and have the ability to address major industry pain points such as labor force gaps, driver productivity and driver safety. Together, Uber Freight and Torc are creating a future where autonomous trucking technology is deployed seamlessly, safely and efficiently—transcending the initial barriers of commercial adoption. 

“Torc is a proven pioneer in autonomous trucking, and we’re thrilled to collaborate with them on the road ahead,” said Lior Ron, Uber Freight founder and CEO. “We firmly believe that by collaborating with partners early on, we are helping incorporate the important voices of customers and carriers across the Uber Freight network and shaping the future of freight with autonomous trucks. In partnering with Torc, we’re able to provide a leader in this space with rich insights regarding how goods move, which in turn will result not only in more access to safer autonomous trucks, but ultimately build more reliable and efficient supply chains.”  

To deploy these innovative assets at scale and achieve a successful autonomous future, continued strategic collaboration with all players across the industry is necessary. In addition to this partnership, Uber Freight is a longstanding member of the Torc Autonomous Advisory Council (TAAC), a council comprised of key freight industry players who provide strategic guidance to Torc. This includes Schneider, C.R. England, Penske, Ryder and other industry leaders, as well as Torc’s majority stakeholder, Daimler Truck AG.

Uber Freight is the preferred network for autonomous truck deployment. By partnering with Torc—in addition to our other partnerships with Aurora, Volvo Autonomous Solutions, and Waabi—we are taking another step forward to unlocking an autonomous trucking future. With the most extensive autonomous freight network in North America, Uber Freight has a growing waitlist of companies eager to adopt and learn about each of the different autonomous trucking solutions integrated and offered on the Uber Freight platform today, in addition to thousands of digitally-enabled drivers ready to start and complete autonomous trucking loads across local geographies—bringing the full package of autonomous trucking tools and capacity needed to optimize supply chains of all sizes. 

To learn more about our Torc Robotics partnership and moving autonomous freight, contact your account manager or reach out to us at autonomous-uf@uber.com.

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This announcement comes at a time when innovation is needed most in the logistics industry. The national supply chain is plagued by challenges, including an estimated 35% of miles being driven empty and a looming shortage of truck drivers, expected to reach 160,000 by 2028. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that in 2019, large truck crashes accounted for more than 5,000 lives lost—and 87% of large truck crashes are caused by human error, according to historical data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Autonomous trucks have a tremendous potential to address these issues, in addition to increasing asset utilization, improving road safety, reducing carbon footprints, and positively reimaging the career outlook and quality of life for truck drivers. 

The industry-first driver-as-a-service solution at the center of the partnership will pair the Waabi Driver with Uber Freight’s technology and services to offer carriers the most technologically advanced, operationally efficient and holistic model for safely and effectively adopting autonomous trucks within their fleets. In the future, carriers with Waabi Driver-enabled trucks will have the option to deploy their assets instantly and seamlessly on the Uber Freight network, taking advantage of continuously optimized routes, as well as an ecosystem of partnerships with transfer hub infrastructure, roadside assistance, and national maintenance providers. 

By providing carriers with the services and infrastructure to deploy, maintain and manage their autonomous assets seamlessly, the bundled solution can help increase asset utilization significantly as well as drive profitability for carriers of all sizes. Over the next ten years, the two companies also intend to deploy billions of miles of Waabi Driver capacity alongside carrier partners on the Uber Freight network, ensuring the technology will have a meaningful impact for shippers and carriers over the long term.

“This exciting partnership allows us to bring Waabi’s revolutionary generative AI innovation to the forefront of our vast freight network, providing our shippers and carriers nationwide with the tools needed to embrace autonomous technology and transform their operations safely and efficiently,” said Lior Ron, Founder and CEO of Uber Freight. “We are thrilled to work with them to usher in a new era for our industry.” 

To gather valuable insights for the joint solution, Waabi Driver trucks have been deployed on the Uber Freight network giving Uber Freight customers early access to autonomous freight capacity. The commercial loads, the first of which ran this week, will run regularly between Dallas and Houston and give the thousands of shippers and carriers on the Uber Freight network an opportunity to better understand what the future of supply chain operations will look like and how autonomous trucks can improve overall network efficiency. As the partnership continues to advance, commercial operations will quickly expand to other key lanes in Texas and beyond. 

“Uber Freight has the scaled freight network and marketplace expertise needed to efficiently and safely deploy our AI-first self-driving technology at scale,” said Raquel Urtasun, Founder and CEO of Waabi. “The unique solution we are building together will empower carriers to dynamically and effectively deploy the Waabi Driver while also unlocking critical capacity for shippers and driving value throughout the supply chain. Together with Uber Freight, we are accelerating the future of autonomous trucking.”

A robust technical integration between the two companies will enable shippers to tap directly into Waabi Driver capacity from Uber Freight’s digital tools, making it easy to transform procurement strategies and incorporate efficient and reliable autonomous capacity into their day-to-day operations. With $18 billion of Freight Under Management, Uber Freight is uniquely positioned to improve reliability and cost-effectiveness for shippers by optimizing routes and combining shipments, ultimately maximizing utilization of autonomous and human-driven trucks across entire networks.

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