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Union Pacific Extends Its Operations, Plans to Haul Cargo in Autonomous Trucks

The largest Class I railroad in the United States wants to extend its operations and plans to start hauling cargo using TuSimple's autonomous trucks.
TuSimple Autonomous Trucks 9 photos
Photo: TuSimple
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Based in San Diego, TuSimple is an autonomous driving technology company that was founded in 2015 and specializes in developing fully autonomous solutions for heavy-duty trucks. Under its Driver Out program, TuSimple takes pride in having managed to cover over 550 cumulative miles on open public roads so far, without a human in the vehicle, without any teleoperation or traffic intervention. The company deployed its driverless trucks in various roadway conditions, including dense early-evening traffic.

TuSimple’s autonomous trucks feature a perception technology that allows them to see 360 degrees around the entire vehicle and up to 3,280 ft (1,000 meters) away, which means seeing 30 seconds ahead when you’re speeding on the highway. The trucks know their exact location at all times, with the autonomous system being able to process huge amounts of data and perform up to 600 trillion operations per second.

Union Pacific will now become TuSimple’s first customer to move cargo using the latter’s autonomous technology and will do so through its Loup Logistics subsidiary. The fully-autonomous trucks will be used for freight transportation in Arizona, between Tucson and Phoenix, helping the company deliver goods to its customers in a faster and more cost-effective way. This partnership will allow it to scale the technology in its network and reduce global supply chain congestion, as stated by Union Pacific’s Executive Vice President of Marketing, Kenny Rocker.

In addition to getting into cargo transportation via autonomous trucks, Union Pacific is also working on achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It recently announced its plans to buy 20 new battery-electric locomotives that it plans to test in yard operations starting in 2023. Union Pacific says that ten such locomotives can eliminate approximately 4,000 tons of CO2, which would be the equivalent of taking 800 cars off the road.

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About the author: Cristina Mircea
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Cristina’s always found writing more comfortable to do than speaking, which is why she chose print over broadcast media in college. When she’s not typing, she also loves riding non-motorized two-wheelers, going on hikes with her dog, and rocking her electric guitars.
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