Tina Bellon

AUSTIN Texas (Reuters). DHL Supply Chain ordered 100 vehicles with TuSimple’s self-driving technology from the United States. The trucks were manufactured by Navistar (NYSE 🙂 and will help it expand its understanding of driverless trucks throughout its supply chain.

DHL is a subsidiary Deutsche Post AG (DE), stated in a statement that, while the partnership is in its early stages, it was looking forward to the deployment of TuSimple’s driverless technology throughout multiple locations outside the United States.

This logistics company also partners with self-driving companies. It began a pilot program earlier in the month with TuSimple, based in California, to transport daily loads between San Antonio and Dallas, Texas.

These hauls currently are operated by TuSimple trucks that have been retrofitted to the company’s autonomous driving technology. DHL will receive the new trucks between 2024-2025. They will be owned and fitted with autonomous technology right from the beginning.

According to TuSimple chief executive Cheng Lu, TuSimple will provide self-driving services for DHL via a subscription model as part of its long-term plan.

Lu stated, “Retrofitting trucks is not simple and it’s not scaleable.”

Last year, TuSimple partnered with Illinois’ Navistar in order to develop self-driving trucks that are slated for production by 2024. TuSimple was acquired by Navistar as a minority shareholder.

DHL is not yet deploying autonomous trucks. However, DHL spokesperson said that the company is vendor-agnostic. This allows it to work with different suppliers and technologies.

DHL had submitted a reservation of 100 trucks to TuSimple rival Embark Trucks Inc. In October, it said that it would make further reservations with an unnamed third independent trucking provider.

TuSimple now has nearly 6,900 truck reservations. Already partnered with UPS, the company stated it plans to get rid of safety drivers on its trucks for an 80-mile (135-km) trial route between Tucson and Phoenix in the coming months.