Autonomous truck company Plus operates self-driving trucks on Chinese long-haul routes
SF Express has selected Plus, a self-driving truck company, for China’s first commercial freight pilot using supervised autonomous trucks
A pilot program beginning in December 2020 for SF Express, a Chinese logistics corporation, will be running supervised autonomous trucks on two long-haul routes, from Wuhan to Wuxi (900 miles round-trip) and Changshu to Wuhan (1,000 miles round-trip), each of which take two to three days to complete.
Plus says it data has shown 20% fuel savings from using the supervised autonomous trucks, and zero safety-related disengagements over the course of the pilot, with 100,000 km driven so far.
Plus’ autonomous driving solution included a truck operator in the vehicle to supervise the driving system and the trucks have systems designed for Level 4 automation.
Plus also announced a Memorandum of Understanding with truck manufacturer IVECO this April to integrate its technology onto their new S-WAY truck model.
The initiative is part of SF Express’ continued efforts to leverage advanced technology innovations to bring efficiencies to its logistics business. The company currently operates its own fleet of 43,000 trucks covering 100,000 routes.
“The logistics industry around the world is undergoing a sea change driven by the explosive growth of e-commerce and demand for faster deliveries. We developed PlusDrive to address the critical business issues fleets are facing today — keeping their drivers happy and productive, reducing operating costs, and meeting sustainability goals,” said Shawn Kerrigan, COO and Co-Founder of Plus. “Opportunities to pilot our system with world-class fleets like SF Express enable us to demonstrate the safety, reliability and maturity of PlusDrive. We are excited to start mass production in just a few short months and to deliver this truly transformational technology to fleets.”