PITTSBURGH, PA—Locomation, a leading provider of autonomous trucking technology solutions, marked the fourth anniversary of its founding by highlighting important milestones over the last 12 months including increased employee headcount, a new commercial contract, and on-road AV testing.
“This time one year ago, we had just moved into our new Robotics Row offices in Pittsburgh as well as our dedicated bay at the Transportation Research Center (TRC) proving ground in Ohio,” said Locomation Co-founder and CEO Çetin Meriçli. “This year has been about growing our team, continuing to attract customers, and accelerating our human-guided autonomous truck testing, both on public roads and at the TRC, as we continue toward real-world commercial deployment of our Autonomous Relay ConvoySM (ARC) system.”
Notable developments include:
- Expanded commercial traction:
- Signed our third commercial contract, with Christenson Transportation of Strafford, MO, to provide the ARC solution to increase their freight capacity and significantly reduce GHG emissions;
- Received a re-commitment to ARC from Wilson Logistics of Springfield, MO, after it was partly acquired.
- Increased employees by 127%, with significant promotions and hirings in Engineering, Safety, Quality, and Legal.
- Released an independent, third-party environmental assessment by Boundless Research showing that Locomation-equipped trucks running with the ARC system would reduce fuel consumption up to 21% and CO2 emissions up to 22%.
- Established collaborations with existing hardware, testing, and risk management firms:
- Cummins, Inc. for joint testing and integration of their systems in ARC-equipped trucks;
- ZF for joint development of steering units to develop and test a functionally safe ReAX steering systems in real-world conditions; and
- Aon PLC to develop a risk management plan for autonomous trucking operations.
- Issued first Voluntary Safety Self-Assessment (VSSA) outlining Locomation’s approach to safe testing of autonomous trucks on public roads and how our system complies with federal and state regulations.
- Upgraded hardware and technology to enable more advanced ARC testing and established a Safety Review Board to provide safety oversight:
- Doubled the size of the ARC test fleet, adding Peterbilt model 579 trucks to augment the previous generation of Kenworth T680s;
- Initiated public road testing in Pennsylvania of Locomation trucks with our third generation hardware;
- Increased testing at TRC test track including year-round testing in harsh weather conditions;
- Expanded simulation testing capability and capacity; and
- Began testing a prototype driver display that increases the situational awareness for the convoy human driver.
- Launched a beta model of our Digital Transportation System (DTS) that can ingest data daily from our current and prospective customers and create operational metrics as well as forecast the potential ARC pairings available. Locomation’s DTS product analyzes a carrier’s existing long-haul runs to identify those suited for pairing to help our customers operationalize the ARC systems on their routes running up to 22 hours per day.
- Supported our current and prospective customers and their shippers by highlighting the value proposition that is achievable with our operating model and technology.
About Locomation
Locomation is re-engineering the world’s supply chain for autonomy with a portfolio of AV products and a suite of tools that enable our clients to implement an operating model for autonomous vehicles. Launched in 2018 by veterans of Carnegie Mellon’s National Robotics Engineering Center, the Locomation team includes some of the world’s foremost experts in robotics technology, artificial intelligence, trucking, freight optimization, safety, and automotive.
The ARC system is a human-led convoy of two trucks that are electronically tethered and equipped with Locomation’s autonomous driving technology. This Human-Guided Autonomy solution enables one driver to operate the lead truck while a second driver rests in the follower truck, allowing carriers to safely operate two trucks for up to 22 hours per day, all while remaining in compliance with federal hours-of-service regulations.
Learn more at https://locomation.ai/ or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.