Ryder System Inc., a logistics and transportation company, and Waymo Via, the trucking and local delivery unit of autonomous driving developer Waymo LLC, announce a partnership focused on providing maintenance for Class 8 autonomous trucks, in order to maximize vehicle up-time and ensure the reliability required to scale operations nationwide. With a growing fleet and geographical footprint, Waymo Via needs a robust and scalable solution for truck maintenance. Ryder has a network of more than 500 maintenance facilities in the U.S. and nearly 90 years of fleet maintenance expertise. The two companies will partner on servicing and evolving maintenance practices for autonomously driven trucks across Waymo Via sites in Texas, Arizona, California, Michigan and Ohio, as well as roadside service between hubs.
“While this partnership initially focuses on fleet maintenance, we see many opportunities to collaborate on autonomous trucking operations in order to successfully deploy these trucks at scale,” says Karen Jones, chief marketing officer and head of new product development for Ryder. “Already, we’ve collaborated on the layout and design of Waymo’s new Dallas facility to ensure it’s optimized for serviceability of trucks and for the transfer hub model they plan to pursue in the near future. Autonomous Class 8 technology is quickly taking hold, and Ryder is poised to become a leader — not only in servicing trucks but also in managing the unique logistics of autonomous operations.”
“As we continue to scale our autonomous trucking operations, we couldn’t have found a better partner than Ryder,” says Charlie Jatt, head of commercialization for Waymo Via trucking. “There are many synergies between our Waymo Via vision and operations and Ryder’s expertise and resources, and we look forward to unlocking best-in-class solutions within the industry and bringing autonomously driven trucks to market throughout the U.S.”
About Ryder System Inc.
Ryder System Inc. is a logistics and transportation company. It provides supply chain, dedicated transportation, and fleet management solutions, including full-service leasing, rental, and maintenance; used vehicle sales; professional drivers; transportation services; freight brokerage; warehousing and distribution; e-commerce fulfillment and last-mile delivery services to some of the world’s most-recognized brands. Ryder provides services throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom. In addition, Ryder manages nearly 235,000 commercial vehicles and operates more than 300 warehouses encompassing approximately 64 million square feet. Ryder is regularly recognized for its practices in third-party logistics, technology-driven innovations, commercial vehicle maintenance, environmentally friendly solutions, corporate social responsibility, world-class safety and security programs, military veteran recruitment initiatives and the hiring of a diverse workforce.
About Waymo LLC
Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with a mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to get where they’re going. Since its start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has been focused on building, deploying and commercializing the World’s Most Experienced Driver to improve the world's access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. The Waymo Driver powers Waymo One, the world's first fully autonomous ride-hailing service, as well as Waymo Via, a trucking and local delivery service. To date, Waymo has autonomously driven tens of millions of miles on public roads and tens of billions of miles in simulation, across 10 U.S. states.
