---
title: "UPS Has Been Quietly Shipping Packages on Self-Driving Trucks"
description: "For the past few months, UPS has sent giant self-driving trucks on the roads to deliver cargo loads between Phoenix, Tucson, and Arizona."
date: "2019-08-15"
modified: "2019-08-15"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ups-self-driving-trucks"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
  - "Self-Driving Vehicles"
tags:
  - "Cargo"
  - "self-driving truck"
  - "self-driving trucks"
  - "the digest"
  - "tusimple"
  - "ups"
---

# UPS Has Been Quietly Shipping Packages on Self-Driving Trucks

![For the past few months, UPS has sent giant self-driving trucks on the roads to deliver cargo loads between Phoenix, Tucson, and Arizona.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/ups-has-been-quietly-shipping-packages-on-self-driving-trucks.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Tusimple\</em\>*

## Self-Delivering Cargo

UPS has been [quietly using](<https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/15/20805994/ups-self-driving-trucks-autonomous-delivery-tusimple>) autonomous trucks to deliver cargo between Phoenix, Tucson, and Arizona since May. The delivery company [announced](<https://www.tusimple.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/UPS_TuSimple_Press_Release.pdf>) that it took a minority stake today in TuSimple, a Chinese San Dieog-based autonomous long-haul trucking startup — and that it's been testing the company's trucks with its own cargo.

For now, though, a driver will remain behind the wheel, which state law requires for any self-driving vehicle with an on-board computer that's in full control of its operation.

## Price Cut

TuSimple promised UPS that its self-driving trucks will be able to reduce the costs of shipping goods by 30 percent, according to a [press release](<https://www.tusimple.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/UPS_TuSimple_Press_Release.pdf>).

TuSimple's Navistar trucks feature nine cameras that allow it to see and analyze its surroundings. The startup is also backed up by tech giant Nvidia, which is developing its own autonomous driving platform.

## Starts and Ends

The news comes after Uber [shut down its self-driving truck division](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/uber-kills-self-driving-truck-division>) months after one of its self-driving cars [struck and killed](<https://futurism.com/ubers-self-driving-car-just-killed-pedestrian>) a pedestrian in Arizona.

And in May, the U.S. Post Office [announced](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/post-office-self-driving-mail-trucks>) it will ship mail across the thousand-mile stretch between Dallas and Phoenix using self-driving trucks as well.

**READ MORE:** [UPS has been quietly delivering cargo using self-driving trucks](<https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/15/20805994/ups-self-driving-trucks-autonomous-delivery-tusimple>) \[*The Verge*\]

**More on self-driving trucks:** *[New “Automated Following” Tech Lets One Driver Control Two Trucks](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/new-automated-following-truck-peloton>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)