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This home delivery program will serve as one aspect of a pilot program made by Waymo and JB Hunt Transport Services in order to test autonomous driving trucks throughout the state of Texas. The most recent pilot program will run six weeks throughout the months of July and August in this state.
"Real-time testing with customers like Wayfair is critical to making autonomous freight movement a viable solution in the future," said Craig Harper, chief sustainability officer and executive vice president at J.B. Hunt, in a statement. "Every supply chain is unique, so it's important that customers can work alongside J.B. Hunt and Waymo to ensure that advanced autonomous technology will create capacity that meets their needs. Through shared experiences, technology integration and innovative thinking, autonomous technology can help us advance J.B. Hunt's mission to create the most efficient transportation network in North America."
There are currently two different self-driving programs made by Waymo: Waymo One (a customer carpooling service) and Waymo Via (a service that relates to both trucking and local delivery). During the time of this pilot program, J.B. Hunt, Waymo, and Wayfair intend to check data that is relevant to delivery, performance, and other driving factors. The pilot program will utilize technology from J.B. Hunt 360 in order to ensure driving effectiveness.
"Expanding our alliance with J.B. Hunt and beginning to move freight together for Wayfair is an exciting next step toward applying the Waymo Driver technology to commercial goods delivery," said John Verdon, trucking lead, business development and partnerships at Waymo, in a statement. "We couldn't be more delighted to work alongside companies who share our innovative spirit and excitement for what autonomous driving technology can mean for the trucking industry."
