While autonomous trucking has recently launched on Texas highways, several companies are moving fast to deploy self-driving yard trucks at scale. Hundreds of vehicles are already re-positioning trailers at ports and logistics yards, with new orders rolling in steadily. Will autonomous trucks in the logistic yard space outpace on-road autonomy?

At the recent Advanced Clean Technology (ACT) Expo in California, I discussed progress and outlook with yard autonomy leaders, plus some up and comers.

At the event, Forterra, ISEE, and Outrider highlighted progress and partnerships with truck-makers – these moves are vital to stimulate broad uptake in the surface logistics space. HubPilot, the newest entrant into this space, updated attendees from the Expo stage.

Providers of yard tractors, such as Kalmar/Ottawa, Orange EV, Terberg, and TICO are making it clear to these developers what their customers want. Although early development required pristine yards free of pedestrians and other vehicles – to make the job simpler for the robots – today’s customer insists on efficient and safe operations in mixed traffic with pedestrian activity, as well as robustness across a range of weather situations.

Currently, most trailer moves are done with diesel tractors. This proportion is expected to steadily drop in the coming years, since the stay-at-home nature of yard operations (compared to long haul) is a very good fit with EV and CNG operations. The autonomy providers are generally agnostic to the type of powertrain.

ISEE AI and TICO announced a strategic partnership at ACT, which will result in autonomy-capable yard trucks rolling off the assembly line next year. But ISEE is not waiting for this key inflection point. According to Debbie Yu, Co-Founder and President of ISEE, “our trucks are currently live at a Fortune 100 logistics service provider hub, actively handling production moves, with the tech upfitted on standard TICO tractors. In these operations, hundreds of thousands of autonomous trailer moves have already occurred.” She added that additional customer deployments across North America are planned for later this year.

For a terminal tractor to relocate a trailer, air hoses and a power line need to be connected between the two units. ISEE demonstrated a robotic arm for this purpose in 2024. The company is now doing trials with customers using an “auto connect” rig that interfaces with a modified trailer.

Providing autonomy on new trucks is the most straightforward way to enter the market. But what about the huge installed base of yard tractors working across the world? Can they be upgraded? This depends on a lot of factors, but ISEE and TICO see this as a key market; they have launched an autonomy retrofit program for existing vehicles currently in the hands of customers.

Forterra has forged a production relationship with OEM Kalmar which will result in new terminal tractors equipped with Forterra’s “AutoDrive” autonomous driving system. Kalmar’s Ottawa AutoTT™ is an autonomous terminal tractor designed to improve efficiency and safety in distribution centers, container terminals, and industrial yards. The AutoTT™ is currently undergoing its second round of testing as Kalmar moves closer to bringing it to market, with full production anticipated by 2026, the company says. The partnership between Kalmar and Forterra was established in early 2024.

In an interview with Gabe Sganga, Forterra’s VP of Commercial Growth, he stressed that, compared to human operations, autonomous performance should be the same if not better. “In our deployments to date, AutoDrive enabled trucks are exceeding the expectations of our customers,” he said. "In a given hour of operation, AutoDrive has consistently matched or exceeded historic move metrics," he added. He emphasized that their customers value consistency and predictability over quickness.

Working with Kalmar, Forterra is now scaling up and adding new sites. New orders are being finalized, Sganga says, noting that “customers are both freight carriers and shippers, including several consumer products companies.” In particular, Q125 “saw an uptick in large orders being placed,” he added.

Forterra provides end to end tractor-trailer auto-coupling with technology partners Electrans and Stoughton.

Kalmar’s automation-ready terminal tractor features an integrated drive-by-wire system and hardware kits essential for autonomous operation. These enhancements, produced at Kalmar’s manufacturing facilities in Ottawa, Kansas, will allow customers to seamlessly integrate autonomous solutions into their logistics and yard management strategies, including in environments requiring complex maneuvers.

The first autonomous solution will be available for the Kalmar Ottawa T2 diesel tractor followed by the recently announced Kalmar Ottawa T2 EV electric terminal tractor.

Outrider Founder and CEO Andrew Smith provided an update on their progress during an interview at ACT. Founded in 2017, Outrider was the first significant initiative in commercializing autonomous yard truck services.

Outrider is working closely with multiple Fortune 500 customers to scale autonomous yard operations in package shipping, e-commerce, retail, grocery, consumer packaged goods, intermodal rail, and automotive manufacturing. Mr. Smith said that the Outrider system “has executed hundreds of thousands of autonomous trailer moves across multiple distribution sites with dozens of vehicles.”

“Outrider has an EV-first approach to yard automation given significant benefits to customers including lower long-term cost of ownership, elimination of on-site emissions around warehouse associates, and automated charging,” said Mr. Smith. That said, he emphasized that the Outrider System is designed to be agnostic to the platform vehicle.

Noting that Outrider-powered OrangeEV electric yard trucks have been operating for several years, Mr. Smith revealed as well that “TICO will be offering its latest yard truck design with the Outrider system.” The timing of commercial availability will be announced at a future date, he said.

The newest version of the Outrider system, announced in January, integrates advanced reinforcement learning capabilities allowing for fluid robotic movement through complex distribution yard settings full of outside actors such as over-the-road trucks, maintenance personnel and site employees. The Outrider System includes over a dozen proprietary safety mechanisms specifically designed to address the hazards of distribution yard automation.

Outrider’s patent protected TrailerConnect robotic arm system addresses trailer brake and electric line connections with no modification to trailers already in circulation. Outrider also offers compatibility with any specialized coupling systems for captured fleets of retrofitted trailers or chassis, Mr. Smith said.

HubPilot, backed by Mitsubishi Electric, takes a unique approach to yard autonomy by combining their HubDrive Autonomous Drive System with support from their YardSense system to provide infrastructure-based perception.

Trailer connections are accomplished by way of a 3D camera and a Mitsubishi Electric robotic arm.

This past winter, the HubPilot system operated through a Michigan winter which had multiple occasions of snow each month. According to Craig Suydam, Lead Engineer/ Business Development – Advanced Engineering at Hub Pilot, “Testing during this time at a customer deployment allowed us to expand our operational design domain into more inclement weather. Also, during this period, we have been able to reduce our switch time (coupling and uncoupling trailers) by an estimated 30%.”

Also present at ACT was Rocsys, which offers hands-free charging solutions for automated fleets operating at logistics centers. Their platform pairs with any industry-standard charger to create an entirely hands-free charging process for electric vehicles, enabling self-driving vehicles to charge without the need for a human operator to plug them in. Polly Crispin, Senior Business Development Manager at Rocsys, commented that “this provides a critical step toward a fully autonomous fleet operation[PC1] and allows terminals to increase efficiency, improve safety conditions for on-site personnel, and plan for future fleet expansions.”

Rocsys systems have been deployed in ports and logistics centers throughout the US and Europe. Deployments are under way with terminal operators, vehicle OEMs, and a large retailer.[MH2] The company recently announced a major project with APM Terminals Maasvlakte II at the Port of Rotterdam, one of the most advanced[MH3] automated container terminals in Europe, to enable 24/7 hands-free charging of 30 Terberg electric automated terminal trucks equipped with Embotech’s Level 4 AV Kit for autonomous operation.

At the outset of autonomous yard tractors development, using robot arms to connect air hoses and power was seen as the fastest path to market. This approach could provide connections to virtually any trailer.

During the last several years, as major logistics organizations have evaluated the autonomy capability and found it viable for their operations, the approach to tractor-trailer connections may now be going through a transition.

Large fleets like J.B. Hunt, Knight-Swift, and UPS own and operate their own trailers. The “captured pool” of trailers can be retrofitted to unlock the advantages of auto-connect capability rather than use of a robotic arm.

Lawrence Bader, Advanced Transportation Technology LLC, recently retired from a long career in truck technology at UPS. As he sees it, “Developers of autonomous terminal tractors seem to be steering away from complex robotic arms in favor of streamlined auto couplers. Fleets piloting autonomous operations today, particularly those with captured trailer pools, are prioritizing faster connections and long-term durability that can scale. Trailer OEM’s and fleets are collaborating on ways to retrofit existing trailers while future-proofing new builds for an auto coupler solution.”

Mr. Smith of Outrider offered another perspective, saying, “Developers of autonomous tractors which have not addressed how to connect autonomously to the millions of trailers currently in circulation depend on modifying captured trailer fleets. Outrider is fully compatible with auto coupler systems for captured trailer fleets that require trailer retrofits and this can be a good solution for a limited set of customers. Given the durability, speed and reliability of the latest Outrider TrailerConnect robotic connection system, however, most enterprise customers and 3PL partners are not planning to execute major trailer retrofit programs or wait years for universal adoption of new standards that auto couplers require.”

This dynamic will take some time and play out and will be interesting to watch.

The total number of autonomous yard trucks in current operations is not known. The buzz indicates that things are moving quickly. Few details are in public view. A side conversation at a recent conference revealed that one shipper has implemented yard tractors throughout their logistics center; where there used to be 200 human driven trucks, there are now 200 autonomous yard shifters.

With factory built autonomous yard tractors entering the market soon, a steady and robust adoption of yard autonomy over the coming years is clearly on the horizon.

Disclosure: Richard Bishop is an Advisor to and/or an equity holder in the following companies mentioned in this article: Forterra, Outrider.