Texas-based real-estate developer Hillwood has selected TuSimple to help prepare facilities for autonomous trucking, starting with the new Dallas Mobility Innovation Zone.

Californian company TuSimple specialises in autonomous driving technology. Hillwood is an industrial and commercial real-estate developer. The collaboration will see Hillwood integrate TuSimple’s infrastructure specifications into current and future industrial and commercial properties.

With the expansion of TuSimple’s autonomous freight network, Hillwood is actively preparing to meet the demand for autonomous trucks by getting properties ready for autonomous trucking operations, starting with a 93,000m2 facility built within its AllianceTexas development. The AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ) provides partner companies access to a testing and commercialisation ecosystem, freight-critical resources, and partnerships essential to adopt, integrate and scale level-four autonomous trucking operations.

“We partnered with TuSimple, a leader in autonomous trucking, to provide the guidance and technical parameters required to prepare this new facility for the rapid adoption and expansion of autonomous trucking operations throughout the region and beyond,” said Ross Perot Junior, chairman of Hillwood. “The on-demand economy is driving a technological transformation within the logistics industry and, through our partnership with TuSimple, the MIZ will be ready to meet that demand.”

This facility will be designed and upfitted to meet TuSimple’s operational and technical requirements that accommodate their operational design domain and are compatible with the current and future expansion of the TuSimple autonomous freight network. This facility is intended to serve as an origin and destination facility for level-four autonomous trucks using its autonomous driving system.

Located just off Interstate 35 near Fort Worth Alliance Airport and near the facilities of TuSimple’s freight-partners UPS and DHL, the MIZ is also close to a major distribution hub and the largest freight market in the USA. Home to the MIZ and one of the nation’s largest inland ports, the AllianceTexas submarket encompasses 6.3 million square metres of industrial facilities.

“We’re seeing unprecedented demand for autonomous trucking capacity as the logistics industry looks for ways to become safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly,” said Cheng Lu, CEO of TuSimple. “Hillwood’s investment in these properties today will make it easier for companies to adopt, integrate and scale autonomous trucking operations. “

TuSimple is headquartered in San Diego, California, with operations in Arizona, Texas, Europe and China. Founded in 2015, it is developing a commercial-ready, fully autonomous level-four driving system for long-haul heavy-duty lorries.

Hillwood acquires and develops industrial properties across the USA, Canada, UK and Europe.

The MIZ is a landscape built on collaboration and opportunity to connect people, places and ideas that push innovation in surface and air mobility forward. It offers mobility developers access to a testing ecosystem, resources and partnerships to test, scale and commercialise the latest technologies.

• Union Pacific Railroad will become the first to move freight on TuSimple’s fully-automated trucking route between the Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona, metro areas. Union Pacific is leveraging its subsidiary Loup Logistics to coordinate the freight shipment and support seamless movement between rail and the critical first and last kilometre. Starting this spring, TuSimple plans to carry Driver Out freight for Union Pacific, using autonomous-vehicle technology to deliver goods to their destination.