Embark Trucks Inc., a developer of autonomous software technology for the trucking industry, and Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp. II, a special-purpose acquisition company, have entered into a business combination agreement that will result in Embark becoming a publicly listed company.
Founded in San Francisco by CEO Alex Rodrigues and CTO Brandon Moak, Embark has been working for the last five years on an extensive road-testing program for self-driving trucks in order to continually refine the company’s software – purpose-built to navigate Class 8 trucks on long-distance freight trips.
Embark partners with carriers, who pay a per-mile subscription cost for Embark’s Driver software to deploy and enable self-driving trucks within their fleets.
Embark, through its Partner Development Program, is currently working with shippers and carriers – including Anheuser-Busch InBev, HP Inc., Werner Enterprises, Mesilla Valley Transportation and Bison Transport – to help prepare their fleets to integrate self-driving technology and scale with Embark’s technology.
The company says it has an industry-leading safety track-record, with more than 1 million real-world miles driven without a DOT-reportable incident.
“The recent accomplishment of key technical milestones – including handling highway work zones on the fly – and the announcement of our Partner Development Program mark the start of Embark’s transition from research to commercialization,” Rodrigues says.
“We plan to enable carrier operation of self-driving trucks in the U.S. sunbelt beginning in 2024. Following the transaction with Northern Genesis we expect to have a war chest that fully funds this commercialization plan, and then some.”
