Trunk.tech green-lighted by Beijing to make autonomous truck road tests

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Chinese autonomous trucking startup Trunk.tech (Trunk) has become one of the first companies to obtain Beijing's permit that allows road tests for self-driving commercial vehicles, marking a big step on its path to large-scale commercial operation of autonomous trucks.

Photo credit: Trunk.tech

In collaboration with JD Logistics & Sinotruck and FOR-U & Foton Motor, Trunk on July 27 received two license plates for autonomous truck road tests from Beijing's authority. Based on the policies launched for Beijing's ICV (intelligent-connected vehicle) policy pilot zone, the startup will team up with its partners on the volume production of autonomous trucks, the multimodal transport, the operation of trunk logistics and urban distribution services, as well as the building of industrial standards.

The ICV policy pilot zone covers an area of 225 square kilometers in Beijing's Yizhuang New Town, the Daxing International Airport area, and six highway sections in Yizhuang, Daxing District in southern Beijing.

As a Chinese leading technology-driven provider of supply chain solutions and logistic services, JD Logistics will be offered autonomous trucking services by Trunk, whose self-driving trucks will be running along the operational routes set by JD Logistics. In addition, the two parties will jointly promote the technology R&D and industrial standard building for smart logistics domain.

Moreover, Trunk will partner with the Chinese commercial vehicle maker Foton Motor and the road freight transport platform FOR-U for the R&D of Level 4 self-driving trucks and the projects for commercial operation of smart logistics services.