Few industries or business functions are experiencing as much disruption as logistics, supply chain and transportation. In fact, according to a recent Forbes Insights survey of more than 400 senior transportation-focused executives, 65 percent say tectonic shifts in these areas are driving an era of profound transformation.

Advances in 3-D printing have been hyped in a number of futuristic applications, like cutting-edge applications in airplane design or parts of rocket engines. But 3-D printing is also making strides in railroads, which hasn’t been considered new-fangled since the 19th century.

Dan Widmaier, cofounder and CEO of Bolt Threads, dons a white lab coat with his name and the numeral one — for employee number one — on the back before opening a door to the company’s lab. Inside, Widmaier and his cofounders, David Breslauer and Ethan Mirsky, are growing artificial spider silk, something that scientists around the world have been trying to do for decades.

What makes a couple of brash 22-year-old entrepreneurs think they can take on Waymo, the clear leader in self-driving vehicle technology, when it comes to putting autonomous trucks on the road?