If You Live in the Sun Belt, Mail It in

Tuesday, the U.S. Postal Service began a pilot delivery program with self-driving trucks between Phoenix and Dallas, a stretch with one of the U.S.’ busiest freight corridors. Turns out your packages and letters may get the autonomous vehicle (AV) experience before you do.

The USPS told me the two-week trial is one way it’s “investing in its future”—a future that ideally doesn’t resemble last year’s $3.9 billion loss. Its partner for the ride: TuSimple, a Chinese-American self-driving trucking unicorn running revenue-generating rides with 15 contracted customers in Arizona. But it hopes this will be its biggest break yet.

How’s it going so far?

TuSimple gave me an update. Early yesterday morning, both big-rigs reached their postal depot destinations in Phoenix and Dallas ahead of schedule. I hope the trucks honked as they passed each other on the 1,000-mile-plus journey.

Keep in mind: During the pilot, a safety driver sits behind the wheel, an engineer rides shotgun, and the robo-rigs stop so human minders can swap out. TuSimple’s shooting for operations without anybody in the cab on “select roads” by late 2020/early 2021.