UPS Takes Minority Stake in TuSimple

UPS said today it’s taken a minority stake in TuSimple, with its venture arm investing an undisclosed sum in the autonomous trucking startup. The two also revealed they’ve been testing commercial mail routes between Tucson and Phoenix, the unofficial self-driving capital of the U.S., since May.

Refresher: TuSimple, HQ’d in San Diego and Beijing, is a unicorn valued around $1.1 billion. Here’s what else it’s got going for it, Chief Product Officer Chuck Price told me:

• UPS’s vote of confidence, which he called the first investment by a major shipping company into a self-driving startup.
• TuSimple has the largest self-driving fleet “by far.”
• It has the industry’s “most powerful sensor suite.” The tech stack includes nine cameras, two lidar sensors, and a vision-based system that can see up to 1,000 meters ahead.
• A recent two-week pilot with USPS on one of the U.S.’ busiest freight corridors.

Next steps: UPS plans to use this partnership to figure out how it will plug autonomous trucks into its massive logistics network. By “late 2020, early 2021,” TuSimple plans to remove the safety driver and engineer currently riding in each truck, Price said.