MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Waymo is partnering with C.H. Robinson to integrate the Waymo Driver into supply chains and make autonomous freight movement a reality for their customers.
This long-term, strategic partnership will initially include running multiple pilots for C.H. Robinson’s customers in the Dallas-Houston transportation lane with the Waymo Via test fleet.
“We look forward to this collaboration with C.H. Robinson, both for their deep roots and experience in logistics and transportation, but also as a company that shares our vision of how technology and autonomous trucking can change our industry for the better,” Charlie Jatt, head of commercialization for Trucking at Waymo Via, said. “C.H. Robinson’s size, scale and platform gives us access to rich and unique transportation data along with customer relationships and pilot opportunities to help bring our Waymo Via solution to the market.”
Waymo says C.H. Robinson has a network of nearly 200,000 shipper and carriers and data on over 3 million lanes. The company says that it will get data at scale to help continue its application of technology in the “most effective and valuable ways for the specific needs of the logistics industry.”
C.H. Robinson also offers access to its medium and small carrier base and a platform for connecting shippers with AV capacity. The collaboration is expected to lay a foundation to explore how Waymo can make its technology available to more partners as it pursues a Driver-as-a-Service business model.
“We are excited to partner with Waymo Via to explore how autonomous driving technology can help bring increased capacity and sustainability into our logistics strategies,” Chris O’Brien, chief commercial officer at C.H. Robinson, said. “Together, we are going to harness this emerging freight technology and its potential on behalf of customers and carriers. We believe there is a real opportunity to bring our scale and information advantage to bear to help develop transportation solutions for them and their ability to participate in and benefit from AV. C.H. Robinson is also best positioned to represent the role of drivers and small and mid-size carriers in a more autonomous future.”
Joseph Price has been a journalist for almost two decades. He began in community media in 2005 and has since worked at media outlets in Virginia and Arkansas. He is also a commercial drone pilot and video editor. He hosts a weekly community radio show focused on goth, metal and industrial music that airs Wednesday evenings at 6 p.m. at www.kuhsradio.org.
