AKRON — For the second time in the past two weeks, Goodyear has invested in an autonomous delivery company.
The Akron-based tire maker, through its Goodyear Ventures venture-capital arm, has made an investment of undisclosed value in TuSimple Inc., a San Diego-based technology company focused on making it possible for heavy-duty trucks to operate autonomously.
TuSimple, whose stated goal is to to develop commercial-ready Level 4 autonomous driving to the logistics industry, operates autonomous trucks in Arizona, Texas, China, Japan and Europe using an ecosystem made up of digital maps, strategic terminals and an autonomous fleet operations system.
The company's mission, according to Goodyear, is to increase safety, decrease transportation costs and reduce carbon emissions.
Last year, Goodyear set up a strategic partnership with TuSimple that calls for Goodyear to provide tires and tire management solutions to TuSimple's Autonomous Freight Network (AFN). As an AFN partner, Goodyear conducts wear studies to predict maintenance, understand tire longevity and reduce the carbon impact of fleets.
Abhijit Ganguly, senior manager, Goodyear Ventures, said the company is excited to build upon the relationship with TuSimple.
"TuSimple's autonomous technology, combined with its vision of autonomous freight as a service, has the potential to create a lot of value in the commercial freight industry," he said.
Goodyear's other recent investment in this sector is with Starship Technologies, a Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based autonomous delivery company. Goodyear joined multiple investors in raising $17 million for the company. Goodyear did not disclose its individual contribution.
