By Nick Carey
(Reuters) – U.S. self-driving truck firm Outrider said on Thursday it has raised $73 million in funding to scale up its autonomous trucks operating in distribution yards for customers in e-commerce, manufacturing and other industries.
The Series C round includes funding from new investors including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, and the venture capital arm of chip designer and computing firm Nvidia Corp.
It also includes fresh funding from American venture capital fund New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and the venture capital arm of industrial conglomerate Koch Industries.
Outrider has now raised a total of $191 million from investors.
Outrider says its self-driving yard truck “hitches to and unhitches from trailers, robotically connects and disconnects trailer brake lines, backs semi-trailers with precision, interacts safely with loading docks, and keeps track of trailer locations throughout the yard.”
The company says its customers represent more than 20% of all yard trucks operating in North America, and have invested in joint product testing and pilot operations since 2019. Yard trucks are designed to move trailers and cargo containers in distribution yards.
Outrider said the funding will also go to further developing autonomous technology and hiring staff in the United States and internationally.
While investor interest in startups related to robotaxi firms has waned because truly self-driving cars on city roads are many years away, companies offering simpler autonomous solutions in more restricted environments are still raising money.
Last week self-driving software startup Oxbotica announced it had raised $140 million from investors to speed the deployment of autonomous vehicles (AVs) in areas including heavy industry, ports and airports.
(Reporting by Nick Carey in London; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
