The news
Humble Robotics raised $51 million in a Series A to take its cabless, driverless electric hauler into customer pilots. Obvious Ventures led the round, with existing investors Eclipse and Energy Impact Partners.
The San Francisco startup has now raised $75 million, about six months after it came out of stealth with a $24 million seed round.
The money will pay for pilots, testing, early manufacturing and more vehicles on the same platform.
The details
The Humble Hauler replaces the tractor and trailer with one flat electric platform that carries a container. It hauls 40-foot international or 53-foot domestic containers and has no cab. Sensor pods with cameras, lidar and radar give it a 360-degree view.
It has a top speed of 55 mph and a range of up to 200 miles.
With no trailer to hitch, Humble doesn’t have to automate coupling a tractor to a trailer.
“The goal is to take more weight per move if we can to reduce the cost per mile as well,” said founder and CEO Eyal Cohen.
Humble plans to sell the haulers to third-party operators.
Humble is also aiming the Hauler at routes under 250 miles, where most US truck freight moves. Its targets are port drayage, plant-to-warehouse shuttles, rail yard moves and short legs between a carrier’s own terminals.
In 2021, 87% of the nearly 12 billion tons that trucks moved within the US went less than 250 miles, a Department of Energy analysis of federal freight data shows.
Shipments under 100 miles made up 44% of that tonnage.
Cohen called short runs “a more controlled situation” for driverless trucks, with depots and engineers nearby.
“Short moves are served very well by electrification,” he said.
What peers are doing
Gatik, another driverless freight startup, already runs routes of up to 400 miles. It raised a $200 million Series D in August after completing 85,000 fully driverless orders.
What’s next
Cohen said in August that Humble was aiming for customer pilots “over the next 12 months.” The company says it is working with customers, partners and regulators to prepare for commercial deployment.
(Photo: Courtesy of the Port of Virginia)
