Waymo and J.B. Hunt Partner Up. It Isn’t Just About Self-Driving Tech.

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Waymo is synonymous with self-driving automobiles, so when it makes a deal, it’s a secure wager that autonomous driving is concerned. A brand new partnership Waymo struck with trucking large

J.B. Hunt Transport Services
,
nonetheless, goes past what traders may count on.

Friday, the businesses announced a deal designed to convey self-driving know-how to J.B. Hunt’s (ticker: JBHT) fleet of vehicles. The settlement may also put Waymo Through, the tech agency’s trucking and last-mile supply providing, on J.B. Hunt 360, used to match freight with truckers.

The deal provides each firms two methods to profit.

Waymo, whose father or mother firm is

Alphabet

(GOOG) can promote self-driving know-how to a trucking firm. And it may possibly entry enterprise for its personal fleet of vehicles on a digital freight-matching platform. J.B. Hunt can undertake the most recent self driving tech, reducing prices, whereas additionally getting extra enterprise for its 360 platform.

J.B. Hunt has been testing out Waymo tech and seems proud of the outcomes. “Our pilot final yr with Waymo Through actually helped us get a hands-on understanding of how autonomous driving know-how could possibly be applied inside our operations,” stated Craig Harper, chief sustainability officer and government vice chairman at J.B. Hunt, within the firm’s information launch. “We consider autonomous driving know-how will assist us create essentially the most environment friendly transportation community in North America, and our collaboration with Waymo Through is a pivotal step in the direction of fulfilling that mission.”

J.B. Hunt believes it may possibly have some absolutely self-driving vehicles on Texas roads in “the subsequent few years,” in response to the information launch.

That timeline is likely to be why the inventory isn’t reacting positively to the information. J.B. Hunt shares had been off 2.4% in noon buying and selling Friday, although the market was weaker total. The

S&P 500
and

Dow Jones Industrial Average
fell 0.4% and 0.8%, respectively.

Different self-driving trucking shares had been decrease, too. The general market decline is a part of the story, however Waymo’s win is likely to be one other issue.

Inventory within the self-driving trucking firm

TuSimple

(TSP) was down 4.3% in noon buying and selling. Shares of

Ford Motor

(F), which backs Argo A.I., one other self driving know-how firm with designs on business transportation, had been flat. Argo isn’t publicly traded.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com