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<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tusimple-stock"></a><ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="7987940" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="TuSimple">TuSimple</keyword> is "leading the autonomous revolution in trucking" according to <keyword id="6374849" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bank-of-america">Bank of America</keyword>.</li><li>Analysts led by Ken Hoexter initiated coverage on TuSimple with a "buy" rating and a $51 price target.</li><li>The price target implies a potential 36% jump in share prices over the next year. </li></ul><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tusimple-stock">T</a><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tusimple-stock">uSimple</a> is "leading the autonomous revolution in trucking" and its stock could jump 36% over the next year, according to Bank of America.In a note to clients on Monday, analysts led by Ken Hoexter initiated coverage on TuSimple with a "buy" rating and a $51 price target.The price target represents a potential 36% jump in share prices from Friday's closing price of $37.29 per share.Hoexter and his team said that TuSimple is set to take a large chunk of the $4 trillion total addressable freight trucking market over the next decade.TuSimple hopes to operate an Autonomous Freight Network (AFN) across the US that will provide a comprehensive, turnkey solution to companies that want to do away with traditional trucking methods.The company has received 240 patents, has mapped more than 3,000 miles of high definition routes to date, and boasts over 5,700 orders for its level 4 autonomous semi-truck just four months after it began pre-sales.TuSimple also has investments and partnerships with the likes of UPS, Union Pacific, Canadian National, Werner, Schneider National, US Xpress, Kroger, McLane, Navistar, TRATON, NVidia, Cummins, and more.By 2024 the company hopes to have more than 7,500 autonomous trucks on the road, and by 2027 that number is set to move to 100,000. BofA's Hoexter said TuSimple's revolutionary model removes drivers from the cab and reduces fuel costs, improving the overall cost structure of the freight business.TuSimple's model "creates a structure to save 50% of operating costs (40% from driver-out and 10% better fuel efficiency) vs. a traditional truck operating model."BofA analysts also praised TuSimple's category-leading technology in their note to clients.TuSimple boasts a 1,000-meter perception range and 35-second planning horizon, allowing the company's trucks to operate at highway speeds of up 75 mph where competitors like Waymo max out at 55 mph.BofA said they believe TuSimple is "demonstrating its proficiency" as a paid operator which gives the analysts growing confidence in the name.TuSimple is shipping over 100 loads per week with its current stock of 70 retrofitted trucks on the road. The company also has no debt on the books due to significant investments from big-name buyers.There are some risks to TuSimple's business model, however, according to BofA.First, there's the development risk. Since TuSimple currently only has 70 autonomous trucks, its commercial ramp to over 7,500 by 2024 could be "aggressive," BofA analysts wrote.There's also a significant regulatory risk as only 24 states currently allow for commercial <keyword id="5940402" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="autonomous-trucking">autonomous trucking</keyword> deployment. And finally, there's the risk of competition from the likes of Waymo, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/ddaif-stock">Daimler</a>, and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tsla-stock">Tesla</a>.Still, at current prices, TuSimple offers an "attractive" entry point to the $4 trillion total addressable market for autonomous trucking, according to Bank of America.

TuSimple could jump 36% as the company leads the race in the $4 trillion autonomous trucking market, BofA says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Two of <keyword id="10473418" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cathie-wood">Cathie Wood</keyword>'s ARK ETFs picked up over 3 million combined shares of <keyword id="7987940" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="TuSimple">TuSimple</keyword> Thursday.</li><li>The combined holdings were worth some $123 million as of Thursday's closing price.</li><li><keyword id="11110916" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tusimple-stock">TuSimple stock</keyword> was down as much as 9% on Friday after Wood's purchase.</li></ul>Cathie Wood bought more than 3 million shares of the self-driving-truck company <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tsp-stock">TuSimple Holdings</a> on its public debut Thursday.The San Diego firm saw its stock struggle in its first day on the open market, trading down as much as 19% before recovering to break even at $40 for the day. Shares debuted on the Nasdaq under the ticker "TSP," and traded down as much as 9% on Friday before mounting a recovery.Wood's flagship fund, the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/etfs/ark-innovation-etf-us00214q1040">ARK Innovation ETF</a>, picked up 2,350,496 million shares of the self-driving truck maker during the volatile day of trading.The <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/etfs/ark-autonomous-technology-robotics-etf-us00214q2030">ARK Autonomous Technology &amp; Robotics ETF</a> also added some 728,536 shares of TuSimple.The combined holdings of both ETFs were worth over $123 million as of Thursday's closing price.TuSimple raised $1.35 billion in its IPO this week, selling almost 34 million shares for $40 each. At that price, the firm is valued at nearly $8.5 billion.TuSimple is the perfect thematic addition to Cathie Wood's active exchange-traded funds due to its focus on autonomous driving, but the company is yet another unprofitable holding for <keyword id="4513420" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="ark-invest">Ark Invest</keyword>.Last year, TuSimple posted a net loss of $178 million on revenue of just $1.8 million, according to the <a href="https://sec.report/Document/0001193125-21-091150/">firm's S-1 prospectus</a>.TuSimple was founded by Dr. Xiaodi Hou, an expert in computer vision software from the California Institute of Technology, in 2015.The company raised over $648 million in seed funding before going public from big-name investors like Volkwagen Group, Goodyear Ventures, and Navistar, per Crunchbase.The firm also counts UPS and the US Postal Service as backers.The release of TuSimple's <keyword id="2839249" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="self-driving-trucks">self-driving trucks</keyword> isn't expected until 2024, however, meaning losses at the firm will likely continue in the neat term.TuSimple uses lidar technology supplied by <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/aeva-stock">Aeva Technologies</a>, which went public on March 15. The company hopes to improve efficiency and safety in trucking while lowering costs and reducing the carbon footprint of the industry.It has created an "Autonomous Freight Network (AFN)" that stretches from Phoenix to Houston with the goal of "allowing freight to be moved from point to point safely and reliably using autonomous trucks."Shares of the autonomous trucking company recovered from their 9% drop to fall just .25% on Friday as of 1:23 p.m. ET.

Cathie Wood bought more than 3 million shares of the self-driving-truck company TuSimple on its IPO on Thursday, and the stock is struggling

<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/pcar-stock"></a><ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="261393" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Paccar">Paccar</keyword> and <keyword id="1710860" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="autonomous-driving">autonomous driving</keyword> startup <keyword id="337466" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Aurora">Aurora</keyword> have entered into a strategic partnership to develop self-driving trucks.</li><li>Paccar's revenue fell significantly in 2020, although the stock managed to gain over 9% on the year.</li><li>The competition in the trucking industry is heating up with new entrants and industry veterans making waves.</li></ul><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/pcar-stock">Paccar</a> shares were up as much as 3% on Wednesday morning after the semi-truck manufacturer <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aurora-self-driving-deal-paccar-kenworth-peterbilt-semi-trucks-freight-2021-1">announced a strategic partnership</a> with the Amazon-backed autonomous driving start-up Aurora.The two companies are looking to combine their respective expertise to develop, test, and sell semi-trucks powered by Aurora's autonomous-driving technology."Paccar looks forward to partnering with Aurora because of their industry-leading autonomous driving technology and impressive team," Preston Feight, Paccar's chief executive officer, said in a <a href="https://www.paccar.com/news/current-news/2021/paccar-and-aurora-form-strategic-partnership-to-develop-autonomous-trucks/">press release</a> on Tuesday. "This strategic partnership complements Paccar's best-in-class commercial vehicle quality, technology, and innovation."Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-picks-to-buy-best-profit-growth-reopening-goldman-sachs-2021-1?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">GOLDMAN SACHS: Buy these 25 stocks best-positioned to juice profits in 2021 as stimulus and vaccine progress spur economic growth</a>The Bellevue, Washington-based Paccar is a global leader in the design and manufacture of high-quality light, medium, and heavy-duty trucks. The company also provides its clientele with advanced powertrains, financial services, information technology, and distributes truck parts.Aurora, meanwhile, has been in the self-driving technology game since 2017 when former Google autonomous-driving engineer Chris Urmson, former Tesla self-driving director Sterling Anderson, and Carnegie Mellon's Drew Bagnell came together to create the company.Since 2017 Aurora has been making moves in an attempt to create the first fleet of self-driving semis.In December, Aurora <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aurora-ceo-chris-urmson-explains-buying-uber-atg-self-driving-2020-12">acquired Uber's self-driving unit</a> giving up 26% equity to do so. The company then expanded testing on public roads in California, Pennsylvania, and Texas, focusing on long-haul, commercial trips.Now, Aurora's technology will be paired with the Peterbilt 579 and the Kenworth T680 semi-trucks at Paccar.Despite the bullish news, PACCAR and Aurora will face stiff competition going forward, and not just from the big names like Tesla.Alphabet's Waymo <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/waymo-daimler-partner-to-make-self-driving-trucks-2020-10">announced plans</a> last year to develop semi-trucks with Daimler, and self-driving startup TuSimple announced it is <a href="https://news.navistar.com/2020-07-15-Navistar-and-TuSimple-Partner-to-Bring-Autonomous-Trucks-to-Market-Navistar-Invests-in-Autonomous-Trucking-Company">joining forces</a> with US truck manufacturer Navistar to create driverless big rigs by 2024.Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/investing-outlook-trends-career-wells-fargo-equity-head-ann-miletti-2021-1?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The head of active equity at Wells Fargo's $607 billion asset management arm shares how she worked her way up from the call center 29 years ago - and pinpoints 3 trends transforming the investment landscape today</a>The news of a strategic partnership with Aurora should be cheered by Paccar shareholders. The company's revenue has taken a hit recently, falling some 24% year-over-year in the third quarter, according to its <a href="https://www.paccar.com/media/3059/q320-10q.pdf">latest SEC filings</a>.Additionally, Paccar earned just $2.57 per share for the nine months that ended September 30, 2020, versus $5.34 per share during the same period in 2019.Paccar currently trades around $92 per share and holds a $30 billion market cap.The company boasts 10 "buy" ratings, 14 "neutral" ratings, and six "sell" ratings from analysts.

Paccar shares rise on deal with Amazon-backed Aurora for autonomous driving tech

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The average UPS driver could get $170,000 in pay and benefits in five years' time in a new contract.</li><li>Tech workers said the boost could make UPS driver pay competitive with tech salaries.</li></ul>The average UPS driver could get six-figure pay under a new contract, and tech workers have mixed feelings about it.During an earnings call on Tuesday, UPS CEO Carol Tomé said that by the end of its five-year contract with the Teamsters union, the average full-time <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ups-170k-deal-driver-job-searches-soar-union-wage-increase-2023-8">UPS driver would make about $170,000</a> in annual pay and benefits, such as healthcare and pension benefits. The comments were made after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ups-teamsters-union-reach-deal-avoid-strike-contract-pay-2023-7?r=US&amp;IR=T">UPS came to a tentative </a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ups-teamsters-union-reach-deal-avoid-strike-contract-pay-2023-7?r=US&amp;IR=T" rel="">agreement </a>to head off a potential strike in July with Teamsters, the union that represents about <a href="https://teamster.org/2023/07/weve-changed-the-game-teamsters-win-historic-ups-contract/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">340,000 UPS delivery drivers and package handlers</a>. The agreement has yet to be officially approved by union members, but the results of a vote on the issue are set to be announced later this month.Some tech workers on social media pointed out the salary boost could make the drivers' salaries more competitive with white-collar employees — and big tech workers responded with a mix of ire and appreciation for the union."This is disappointing, how is possible that a driver makes much more than average Engineer in R&amp;D?" a worker at the autonomous-trucking company TuSimple <a href="https://www.teamblind.com/post/Do-UPS-drivers-make-170k-per-year-while-their-SWE-make-less-than-100k-L2QtmXqv">wrote on Blind</a>, an anonymous job-posting site that verifies users' employment using company emails. "To get a base salary of $170k you know you need to work hard as an Engineer, this sucks."It's important to note that the $170,000 figure represents the entire value of the UPS package, including benefits, and doesn't represent the base salary. UPS drivers currently make an average of about $95,000 a year with an additional $50,000 in benefits, <a href="https://about.ups.com/us/en/our-company/great-employer/real-employee-benefits.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the company says</a>. The average median salary for an engineer in the US is $103,845 with a base pay of about $91,958, <a href="https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/engineer-salary-SRCH_KO0,8.htm">Glassdoor indicates</a>. It <a href="https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/TuSimple-Research-Engineer-Salaries-E1147857_D_KO9,26.htm#:~:text=%24199K&amp;text=The%20estimated%20total%20pay%20for,TuSimple%20is%20%24198%2C701%20per%20year." target="_blank" rel="noopener">also indicates</a> that TuSimple research engineers can make between $161,000 to $250,000 in compensation.Other tech workers on Blind expressed a similar level of discontent. Insider didn't independently verify the users' identities."I'm not demeaning other people but putting into perspective how much it takes for a swe or finance person to make that kind of money!!" a worker at the healthcare-services company Centene <a href="https://www.teamblind.com/post/UPS-Drivers-TC-170k-WCrqAnxz">wrote in a separate Blind thread</a>.Meanwhile, several workers, including a Meta worker, <a href="https://www.teamblind.com/post/UPS-Drivers-TC-170k-WCrqAnxz">said</a> that software engineers were "underpaid." The TuSimple worker wrote: "the engineers that created that truck he drives are more important because the impact to society is higher, including providing a tool for work.""$300k in the bay is like $90k in most of the country tho," a Microsoft worker <a href="https://www.teamblind.com/post/UPS-Drivers-TC-170k-WCrqAnxz">said on Blind</a>. "The drivers are making it in LCOL," they said, referring to low-cost-of-living areas.While some workers on Blind argued that UPS would pay its drivers more than its software engineers, data from <a href="https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/UPS-Software-Engineer-Salaries-E3012_D_KO4,21.htm">Glassdoor</a> indicates software engineers at the company make between $111,000 and $168,000 — a figure that is likely to increase in five years' time when the average UPS driver package hits $170,000.<h2>'What they do is important work'</h2><div type="image" title="A woman in a brown UPS uniform carries a box in front of a brown UPS truck." height="3219" width="4829" msid="102581349" hostid="261"></div>Despite some tech workers' resentment, many workers pointed out UPS drivers work under difficult conditions."Stop behaving like an elitist!" an Amazon worker <a href="https://www.teamblind.com/post/Do-UPS-drivers-make-170k-per-year-while-their-SWE-make-less-than-100k-L2QtmXqv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote on Blind</a>. "Why do you [think] someone driving long haul should make less than an engineer? What they do is important work. How do you think the grocery stores get stocked or your favorite stores? It's these long haul drivers risking their lives driving 12 hour days sometimes in harsh weather."Other people in tech challenged workers to consider what it would be like to take on the demanding role of a driver at UPS. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ups-drivers-reveal-struggle-working-without-air-conditioning-heat-2022-8">Insider previously reported</a> that UPS drivers were required to be extremely active on the job, lift and organize heavy packages, and have faced issues with working in extreme heat. UPS workers often must work holiday shifts, which are known for being grueling as package volume increases."I'd love for you to meet my dad who has delivered for UPS for over 35 years, hauls 100s of packages in the 105+ degree Texas heat, is literally Santa Claus in Dec, and does it for 9+ hours a day at 67 yo," the user Claire Vo <a href="https://twitter.com/clairevo/status/1689003763674255363">wrote on X</a>."Have fun not being allowed to take any PTO between the week of thanksgiving and new years," another worker <a href="https://www.fishbowlapp.com/post/consultants-becoming-ups-drivers-to-get-a-170k-base-salary">wrote</a> on Fishbowl.On Tuesday, <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/everyone-wants-to-work-at-ups-after-union-scores-170-000-driver-pay-1.1956526">Bloomberg reported</a> that the company had an over 50% uptick in the number of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ups-170k-deal-driver-job-searches-soar-union-wage-increase-2023-8">people searching for jobs at UPS</a> after the tentative agreement was announced. Though, the publication reported new employees would have to work their way up to the role of UPS driver as the company requires its workers to first put in time working inside its warehouses.

Tech workers react to UPS drivers landing a $170,000-a-year package with a mixture of anger and admiration

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="3953498" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="waymo">Waymo</keyword> has ramped up sanitation in its robotaxis during the coronavirus pandemic.</li><li>Daniel Chu, Waymo's chief product officer, told Business Insider he was particularly excited about the ability of the company's vehicles to flush out old air between rides.</li><li>Chu said the coronavirus hasn't changed Waymo's long-term strategy and has only highlighted the benefits of self-driving vehicles.</li><li>Are you a current or former Waymo employee? Do you have an opinion about what it's like to work there? Contact this reporter at <a href="mailto:mmatousek@businessinsider.com">mmatousek@businessinsider.com</a>, on Signal at 646-768-4712, or via his encrypted email address <a href="mailto:mmatousek@protonmail.com">mmatousek@protonmail.com</a>.</li></ul>Amid the coronavirus pandemic, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/waymo">Waymo</a> has taken a number of steps to promote rider safety, like requiring anyone who cleans its vehicles to wear a mask and submit to a temperature check, stocking vehicles with hand sanitizer, and flushing out old air between rides.Daniel Chu, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/googl-stock">Waymo</a>'s chief product officer, told Business Insider during its <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKMueU2_8dQ&amp;feature=youtu.beu.be">IGNITION: Transportation</a> event on Tuesday that he was particularly excited about the air-replacement feature."Between rides, we actually exchange the air," he said.While the coronavirus has forced Waymo, which was spun off from Google's autonomous-vehicle program in 2016, to scale back its Arizona-based Waymo One robotaxi service for much of this year, the pandemic hasn't changed the company's long-term strategy, Chu said."It's only reinforced the benefits of self-driving technology," he said.Waymo is developing the software and hardware necessary to build a computer "driver" for ride-sharing and delivery vehicles. Chu said focusing on a comprehensive automated-driving system has accelerated the pace at which Waymo can improve its technology."It's allowed us to quickly iterate on the product and understand that there are interdependencies amongst these elements," he said.Waymo is the only company that has launched an autonomous ride-hailing service in the US and is seen by many experts as the autonomous-vehicle industry's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/experts-rank-tesla-waymo-other-self-driving-car-power-players-2020-6">leader</a>. It has formed partnerships with Fiat Chrysler, Nissan, Renault, and Volvo.Are you a current or former Waymo employee? Do you have an opinion about what it's like to work there? Contact this reporter at <a href="mailto:mmatousek@businessinsider.com">mmatousek@businessinsider.com</a>, on Signal at 646-768-4712, or via his encrypted email address <a href="mailto:mmatousek@protonmail.com">mmatousek@protonmail.com</a>.<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-full-self-driving-software-release-beta-questions-2020-10">Tesla says it's finally releasing 'full self-driving' software after it had to 'rewrite everything' — but no one's sure what it can actually do</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cruise-test-self-driving-driverless-cars-in-san-francisco-2020-10">Self-driving startup Cruise is launching fully driverless testing in San Francisco this year</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-cruise-trains-its-self-driving-vehicles-2020-10">How Cruise, a $19 billion self-driving firm backed by General Motors and SoftBank, trains its cars to have 'super-human' capabilities</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/waymo-tusimple-leading-charge-into-autonomous-trucking-deliveries-2020-9">As the hype around robotaxis fades, Waymo, Aurora, and TuSimple are leading the autonomous-vehicle charge into trucking and deliveries</a></li></ul>

A Waymo executive reveals how the company is keeping its self-driving taxis safe for riders during the COVID-19 pandemic

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Courtesy of Starsky RoboticsA truck (sans trucker) and Stefan Seltz-Axmacher, CEO and cofounder of Starksy Robotics</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/starsky-robotics" data-e2e-name="category-link">Starsky Robotics</a>has accomplished a feat in autonomous <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/trucking" data-e2e-name="category-link-more">trucking</a>- <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/self-driving-trucks" data-e2e-name="category-link">self-driving trucks</a> that don't have a person in the cabin.</li><li>As of June 16, Starsky began operating truly driverless semi-trucks on the Florida turnpike.</li><li>That means the company beat <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/tesla" data-e2e-name="category-link">Tesla</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/waymo">Waymo</a>, and a host of other self-driving truck startups to the same goal</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/starsky-robotics" data-e2e-name="category-link">Starsky Robotics</a> is now testing autonomous trucks that have no driver inside, the San Francisco Bay Area startup announced on Wednesday.As of June 16, Starsky began operating truly driverless semi-trucks on the Florida turnpike.It's a first in the industry. To be sure, there are plenty of autonomous trucks on the road. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tusimple-autonomous-trucking-beating-tesla-waymo-2019-1">TuSimple</a> has a fleet of more than 50 trucks making three to five revenue-generating routes per day in Arizona. <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2019/05/29/waymo-resumes-testing-self-driving-trucks-in-arizona/">Waymo</a> resumed testing its self-driving trucks in Phoenix, after ending the tests two years ago.<a href="https://www.ttnews.com/articles/self-driving-truck-startup-embark-releases-performance-data">Embark</a>'s trucks drove more than 124,000 automated miles last year. And <a href="https://futurism.com/teslas-autonomous-semi-truck-spotted-california-highway">Tesla</a> has been spotted testing some autonomous semis.But these companies still have at least two people in the cabin for safety purposes - usually two truck drivers or a trucker and an engineer. Starksy's trucks have neither.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/starsky-robotics-self-driving-semi-trucks-tesla-2018-6">A company you've probably never heard of is quietly building a fleet of self-driving semis that could revolutionize the trucking industry. And the founder says it has one big advantage over Tesla, Uber, and Waymo</a>Stefan Seltz-Axmacher, CEO and cofounder of Starksy Robotics, said his company achieved the industry feat by way of one key difference between Starsky and the rest of the autonomous-trucking cohort.That is, the trucks do have a driver. It's just that he or she is remotely controlling the vehicle, and several others, as many as 500 miles away.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCNSZKXvi64&amp;feature=youtu.be">Starsky Robotics/YouTube</a>The workplace of a remote Starsky trucker</div></div></div>"Starsky isn't so much an autonomous R&amp;D lab as much as we are keen in trying to solve a very distinct problem, and that problem is the persistent long-haul truck driver shortage in US trucking," Stefan Seltz-Axmacher, CEO and cofounder of Starksy Robotics, told Business Insider."Our focus is not so much building general autonomy in this really exciting pipe dream of artificial intelligence that can drive anywhere," Seltz-Axmacher said. "What we really, really care about is making it so that trucks can drive without a person in them."Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aws-powering-tusimples-long-range-perception-technology-2019-2" data-analytics-position="11">Amazon Web Services is underpinning the technology at a $1 billion driverless trucking startup - and it shows how Amazon wants to control its supply chain and cut its $28 billion yearly shipping bill</a>The American Trucking Associations <a href="https://atri-online.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/ATRI-Top-Industry-Issues-2018.pdf">has said that the US has a shortage of 50,000 truck drivers</a> and that the industry will need to recruit and train 898,000 new truckers by 2026. Trucking companies ranked the driver shortage as their top industry issue in 2017 and 2018.Meanwhile, salaries for truck drivers are falling. A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trucking-shortage-eld-mandate-cdl-truck-driver-salary-2018-6">Business Insider analysis</a> found that median wages had decreased by 21% on average since 1980, while in some areas they have fallen by as much as 50%.Seltz-Axmacher said, because of that, there are fewer folks coming into the industry to drive goods across the country.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Courtesy of StarskyStarsky co-founders Kartik Tiwari and Stefan Seltz-Axmacher</div></div></div>"The problem in the trucking industry is trucking's commoditized, so you have a cap on the productivity of a driver, which means you can't pay them more than $60,000 a year," Seltz-Axmacher said. "$60,000 a year isn't enough money to get someone to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trucking-truck-driver-british-american-2018-8">spend a month at a time</a> in a truck."But shifting trucking from a job on the road to an eight-hour office job could keep the trucking industry staffed, Seltz-Axmacher said.Some trucking executives see the autonomous feature as a way <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/tesla-stock-price-electric-truck-good-thing-for-trucking-industry-2018-12-1027830720">to cut labor costs</a>. According to <a href="https://www.ttnews.com/articles/itech-trucking-may-save-168-billion-annually-driverless-vehicles-report-concludes">a Morgan Stanley report</a>, implementing fully driverless trucks could save the industry $70 billion per year. Productivity would be up 30% because driverless trucks would run 24/7.Get the latest Tesla stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/TSLA-Quote"> here.</a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/drifting-physics-explained-driving-fast-furious-2019-6">A professional drifter explains the physics behind drifting</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

A little-known trucking startup just beat Tesla and Waymo to run driverless semi-trucks on the open road

Sjoerd van der Wal/Getty Images; Samantha Lee/Business Insider<ul class="summary-list"><li>Technologists and big spenders in America's $800 billion trucking industry are investing in new types of trucking software - but not much in self-driving trucks.</li><li>That's because the likelihood that self-driving trucks will be realized in the coming decade is diminishing further and further, making it a lesser focus for big players in the industry.</li><li>As a result, investors are gravitating toward software solutions for trucking companies, which are a safer, less volatile bet.</li><li>With investor focus elsewhere, the expectation for self-driving trucks could be pushed even further down the road. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Everyone from <a href="https://www.fleetowner.com/technology/article/21696130/report-driverless-trucks-will-eliminate-millions-of-jobs">Tucker Carlson</a> to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/01/17/washington-post-editorial-board-interviews-2020-candidate-andrew-yang/?arc404=true">Andrew Yang</a> has opined on self-driving trucks in recent years. And while many of those influencers' opinions differ on virtually everything else, their standpoint on autonomous trucking is unified: Self-driving technology is coming, soon, and it will squash the livelihoods of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/autonomous-tech-truck-driver-jobs-2018-12">1.8 million Americans.</a>But looking at the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/logistics-startups-2020-according-to-vcs-2020-2">$19.3 billion</a> supply-chain venture-capital space tells a much different story.Investment in supply chain is red hot. VCs in that space closed 534 deals in 2018, according to Pitchbook's most recent numbers in a December report. That's up from 392 deals in 2015, and just 85 in 2010.But Pitchbook revealed that self-driving trucks aren't dominating the space, with 122 deals in 2018 and 96 in 2019. That may be because, according to the Pitchbook report, there's an "unproven model in autonomy." "The technological ideas that may be the most scientifically exciting are often not the highest probability of success," Benjamin Gordon, founder and managing partner of private-equity firm <a href="https://cambridgecapital.com">Cambridge Capital</a>, told Business Insider."Most venture capitalists, and certainly all private-equity firms, prefer to invest in businesses that have a high likelihood of success and a low level of volatility," Gordon continued. "And self-driving is a pretty good example of the opposite."That could push the expectation for self-driving trucks even further down the road, because innovation takes money, and much of the money is currently going elsewhere. <h2>VCs and tech giants are looking at automating brokerage instead</h2>Four years ago, Uber Freight's head of operations, Bill Driegert, would have said self-driving trucks would be on the road by 2030. Now, he's not so sure."It's still more in the investment phase, where you don't have large-scale commercial implementations," Driegert told Business Insider.Pitchbook; Andy Kiersz/Business InsiderVC spending in freight is exploding.Meanwhile, most players in the trucking-technology space are focusing on automating the process in which truck drivers are matched with loads to move from retailers and manufacturers. Companies like <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/amazon-freight-disrupts-uber-billion-dollar-trucking-industry-2019-4-1028147655">Amazon</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-freight-trucking-profitability-brokerage-2019-9">Uber</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oracle-trucking-digital-freight-brokerages-solve-biggest-problem-trucking-industry-2019-7">Oracle</a> all have their own freight-brokerage platforms.The folks who lead these efforts at big companies and the ones who helm the startups, like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trucking-convoy-fund-raise-startup-founder-interview-2019-11">Seattle-based Convoy</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/truck-driver-shortage-staffing-industry-problems-2018-9">New York-based Transfix</a>, say that automating brokerage could help truck drivers drive fewer miles without a load and wait less at warehouses for new loads. That helps truckers, many of whom work for themselves or for a small business, make more money. As for Uber Freight, Driegert, who previously held leadership positions at Amazon and Coyote Logistics, said the company's technology is already slashing costs for customers. Carriers who work with Uber Freight report that they reduce empty miles by 20% to 30%, Driegert said."The tech we're building, it's very immediate," Driegert said. "Any shipper or any carrier can download it today and start seeing the difference."Pitchbook; Andy Kiersz/Business InsiderMore and more freight startups are vying for VC investment.Freight-brokerage software, as well as buzzy data-visibility startups like Project44, are thus a safer bet for investors."It's a much lower-risk proposition for a VC to invest in an enterprise software company with proven customers and revenue, and a predictable growth curve, than something as exciting but unpredictable as self-driving technology," Gordon said.<h2>A $70 billion opportunity </h2>Of course, many folks are still pushing ahead in self-driving trucks. UPS recently acquired a minority stake in self-driving company TuSimple, and the startup has been piloting self-driving UPS shipments <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ups-driverless-trucks-tusimple-minority-stake-2019-8">since spring 2019</a>. Waymo began testing self-driving trucks in Arizona <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/23/waymos-self-driving-trucks-and-minivans-are-headed-to-new-mexico-and-texas/">in 2017</a>, and Elon Musk is gearing up to produce the Tesla Semi <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-semi-will-roll-off-production-line-in-2020-2020-1">sometime by the end of 2020</a>.The revenue upside is clear. Autonomous vehicles would save the trucking industry billions and increase fuel efficiency, according to <a href="https://www.ttnews.com/articles/itech-trucking-may-save-168-billion-annually-driverless-vehicles-report-concludes">a Morgan Stanley report</a>. Labor savings alone could be $70 billion per year, and productivity would be up 30% because driverless trucks would run 24/7. But trucking is technologically further behind than outsiders may understand. Drivers often pick up new jobs through calling individual brokerages, GPS tracking is still a novelty, and a law that requires drivers to keep a device to electronically log driving hours <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trucker-truck-driver-eld-salary-2018-5">was panned partially</a> because truckers felt they were being monitored too closely.In the past two decades, just about every major industry has been digitally transformed - retail with online shopping, travel with online airline and hotel booking, and finance with digital stock brokers. Eric Berdinis, the group product manager at Uber Freight, said logistics is getting its belated digital revolution right now."It's the last kind of major industry where this transformation is happening," Berdinis told Business Insider.Asad Hussain, a mobility-tech analyst at PitchBook, agrees."Our view is that self-driving trucks are coming, but it's going to take years for them to become widespread," he told Business Insider. "In the meantime, there's a lot of inefficiencies and excess costs and supply chains that can be addressed with the technologies of today."Starsky RoboticsSelf-driving truck startup Starsky Robotics shuttered in 2020 after raising more than $20 million in venture capital.For that reason, it might be necessary for the public to roll back its expectations of what will come out of the trucking industry. An industry that's still working out how track the location of truck drivers isn't likely to going to be able to eliminate their roles altogether by virtue of technology.Of course, the challenges of developing self-driving technology aren't limited to truck startups. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/17/business/self-driving-autonomous-cars.html">As The New York Times reported last year,</a> the heads of companies like Ford have admitted that developing driverless cars was harder than they thought."There was this incredible optimism," Navigant Research's Sam Abuelsamid <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/17/business/self-driving-autonomous-cars.html">told the Times</a>. "Companies thought this was a very straightforward problem. You just throw in some sensors and artificial intelligence, and it would be easy to do."Gordon, who has been in supply chain since the mid 1990s and previously sold a startup to shipping giant Maersk, points more generally to an adage PayPal and Palantir billionaire Peter Thiel <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/founders-fund-the-future-2011-7">wrote in 2011</a>, criticizing a slowing rate of innovation and lack of ambitious entrepreneurs: "We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters."Sometimes the more conventional route wins out, not because it's the cheapest or most innovative long-term solution - but because it's the safest for the people with a stake in the industry right now, no matter how imminent the revolution may feel.Like other buzzy ideas that always seem 10 years out, that safety net may be what keeps self-driving trucks a thing of the future rather than one of the present.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/30-big-tech-predictions-for-2020?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;itm_content=amazon&amp;itm_campaign=30-big-tech-predictions-for-2020"></a> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-teslas-model-3-compares-to-volkswagens-new-ev-ide-2020-2">How Tesla's Model 3 compares to Volkswagen's new EV</a></h3>

Uber and scores of VCs are investing millions into trucking innovation - but little is going toward self-driving trucks, despite the hype around them. Here's why.

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A little-known trucking startup just beat Tesla and Waymo to run driverless semi-trucks on the open road

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Uber and scores of VCs are investing millions into trucking innovation - but little is going toward self-driving trucks, despite the hype around them. Here's why.

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