More self-driving trucks hit Texas roads

Self-driving technology companies are striking while the iron is hot.

Driving the news: Waymo Via, the self-driving truck unit under Google parent company Alphabet, announced a new deal Wednesday with one of the biggest logistics companies in the world — C.H. Robinson.

Why it matters: As the trucking industry continues to face worker and equipment shortages, companies like Waymo have landed significant partnerships with companies in the freight sector.

• Details: Autonomous trucks from Waymo Via will make deliveries of C.H. Robinson’s customer freight between Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, a 240-mile stretch of road, as part of several pilots.

The big picture: Investors see a lot of potential in companies that can solve the problem of carrying freight long distances, Axios’ Joann Muller has reported.

• Companies like Walmart have started testing the technology for shorter routes too — the so-called “middle mile” of the supply chain. 

Go deeper: How autonomous trucks could fix our broken supply chains