AllianceTexas
TuSimple (Nasdaq: TSP), a global autonomous driving technology company, and Fort Worth-based Hillwood announced on Tuesday a partnership to integrate TuSimple’s infrastructure specifications into current and future industrial and commercial properties.
The TuSimple Autonomous Freight Network represents a significant step in Hillwood readying properties for autonomous trucking operations, starting with a 1 million-square-foot state-of-the-art facility to be constructed within its 27,000-square-acre AllianceTexas development.
The AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ) provides partner companies access to a testing and commercialization ecosystem, freight-critical resources, and partnerships essential to comprehensively adopt, integrate, and scale L4 autonomous trucking operations.
“We partnered with TuSimple, a leader in autonomous trucking, to provide the guidance and technical parameters required to prepare this new facility for the rapid adoption and expansion of autonomous trucking operations throughout the region and beyond,” says Ross Perot Jr., chairman of Hillwood, a leader among industrial and commercial real estate developers, in a statement. “The on-demand economy is driving a technological transformation within the logistics industry, and through our partnership with TuSimple, the MIZ will be ready to meet that demand.”
The new facility will be designed and upfitted to meet TuSimple’s operational and technical requirements that accommodate their Operational Design Domain and are compatible with the current and future expansion of the TuSimple Autonomous Freight Network. This facility is intended to serve as an origin and destination facility for L4 autonomous trucks utilizing TuSimple’s Autonomous Driving System.
The MIZ, located near TuSimple’s major freight-partner facilities (UPS and DHL), is also in close proximity to a major distribution hub and the largest freight market in the U.S. Home to the MIZ and one of the nation’s largest inland ports, the AllianceTexas submarket encompasses 68 million square feet of industrial facilities.
“We’re seeing unprecedented demand for autonomous trucking capacity as the logistics industry looks for ways to become safer, more efficient, and more environmentally friendly,” says Cheng Lu, TuSimple president and CEO. “Hillwood’s investment in these properties today will make it easier for companies to adopt, integrate, and scale autonomous trucking operations.”
A detailed video illustrating how autonomous trucking terminals work can be found here.