International Motors on March 31 announced the launch of an autonomous truck pilot with Ryder System. 

As part of the pilot, Ryder will operate a daily 600-mile route along the Interstate 35 corridor between facilities in the Texas cities of Laredo and Temple.

International is deploying its second-generation autonomous tractor, equipped with a suite of factory-installed sensors, on an LT Series truck and running the latest AI-based SuperDrive autonomous driving software from PlusAI.

“In partnering with fleet customers to determine path-to-deployment, we’re focused on integrating factory-ready virtual driver software into existing transport operations, without the need for dedicated autonomous terminals,” said James Cooper, head of Autonomous Solutions, International.

International said the objectives of this pilot program are to validate autonomous technology as part of an active longhaul logistics network, identify optimal use cases for autonomous trucking, and gain feedback to finalize launch-ready product features. 

“For Ryder, this pilot represents an important step forward — moving beyond terminal- and maintenance-focused trials to evaluating autonomy in live operations,” said Seth deVlugt, senior director of RyderVentures & new product strategy at Ryder. “The insights we gain here will help us further understand how autonomy could potentially be applied across portions of the supply chain.”

Early findings from the pilot include a 100% on-time delivery rate, 92% autonomous route coverage, and pre-trip inspections completed in under 30 minutes. All activities are supervised by a human safety driver. 

“Ryder’s participation underscores our shared commitment to practical autonomous fleet deployment,” said Cooper. “Together, we’re working to turn pilots into scalable, commercial solutions.”

Last year, International announced it had launched customer fleet trials using second-generation autonomous vehicles, in partnership with PlusAI.