EDEN PRAIRIE, MN & MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - Recently, the global logistics company C.H. Robinson tapped Waymo Via, the trucking and delivery unit of Alphabet’s autonomous driving technology subsidiary Waymo. Through this strategic partnership, both companies will be mutually exploring the practical application of autonomous driving technology as solutions across the logistics and supply chains.

“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. Together, we are going to harness this emerging freight technology and its potential on behalf of customers and carriers,” said Chris O’Brien, Chief Commercial Officer at C.H. Robinson. “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.”

As Alphabet is the parent company of Google, C.H. Robinson has a powerful partner on its side. The partnership combines the benefits of Waymo’s innovative autonomous driving technology, the Waymo Driver, with C.H. Robinson’s Navisphere technology, which is one of the most-connected logistics platforms.

According to the release, the collaboration will initially focus on running multiple pilots in the Dallas-Houston transportation lane with Waymo Via autonomous trucks hauling C.H. Robinson’s customer freight. During and after the pilots, the companies will collaborate to shape the future development and expansion of autonomous driving technology as an additional transportation solution.

This will effectively provide much-needed capacity, help improve the carrier and driver experience, and address the business challenges posed by long-term driver shortages.

“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,” said Charlie Jatt, Head of Commercialization for Trucking at Waymo Via. “C.H. Robinson’s size, scale, and platform give 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.”

I for one am interested in seeing Alphabet flexing its strength in the ag industry. Since its investment in farming tech and robotics, one can’t help but think of the possibilities this tech giant is capable of.

ANUK will keep an eye on the wire to report the latest on the horizon.

C.H. Robinson Waymo