Embark Technology

Embark Technology, develops autonomous semi-trucks for freight and logistics purposes. Its trucks are currently developed with Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Level-2 automation (i.e., vehicles can control both the speed and the steering, but require a safety driver to maintain full vigilance), but the company planned to develop Level-4 technology (i.e., fully autonomous vehicles limited to specific locations and/or conditions). Embark’s team comprises engineers from Tesla, Google, Audi, and NASA along with a professional operations team that averages over a million miles per driver.

Key customers and partnerships

The company has been testing the trucks since its launch in early 2017 (mostly in California), having driven 449,837 autonomous miles in 2019 alone (more than triple the mileage in 2018). Embark expanded operations to Texas and opened a trucking facility in Houston in December 2021. Embark claims to be the first self-driving truck company to drive across the country, operate in poor weather (including snow), and navigate between transfer hubs. The company also has partnerships with fleet management solutions provider Ryder System to launch nationwide freight transfer points (September 2021), with real estate investment company Altera to launch transfer points across the US Sunbelt (February 2022) , and with trucking company U.S. Xpress to add the latter’s terminals to Embarks’ transfer points coverage (May 2021). The company launched its coast-to-coast coverage map with nine transfer point sites across the sunbelt for pilot operations in November 2022.

The company planned to begin driverless pilots in 2023 and commercialize the technology by 2024. The company reportedly had secured 14,200 reservations for its autonomous software as of March 2022. As of March 2021, the company’s technology was reportedly being utilized by five Fortune 500 companies in the southwest US, including Amazon. In 2021, Embark also has partnerships with AB InBev, Werner Enterprises, Mesilla Valley Transportation, Bison Transport, HP Inc., Knight-Swift Transportation, DHL Supply Chain, and U.S. Xpress to deploy its autonomous trucks under its “Partner Development Program (PDP).” The company also introduced a new business model in partnership with Knight-Swift Transportation in February 2022, where the ownership of autonomous trucks is transferred to the customer—reportedly marking an industry first. Embark delivered its first trucks to Knight-Swift in December 2022.

In March 2021, the company unveiled its Embark Universal Interface (EUI), a set of standardized self-driving components and interfaces necessary for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the trucking industry to integrate autonomous technology into their vehicles. The interface is powered by “Nvidia Drive,” an autonomous vehicle computing platform solution adopted following a partnership entered into in August 2021. The company also has partnerships with other Tier-1 suppliers and tech companies including ZF, and LiDAR manufacturer Luminar Technologies. Major OEMs whose trucks are being integrated with the EUI include Freightliner, Navistar International, PACCAR, and Volvo.

Funding and financials

Embark was listed on the Nasdaq in November 2021 by merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) . In May 2023, Embark announced plans to go private in a USD 71 million, all-cash merger with Applied Intuition, a California-based developer of autonomous vehicles technology. Following the merger, Embark will delist from the Nasdaq. The Embark brand will continue to operate under Applied as a subsidiary. The company is yet to generate revenue, and it reported a net loss of USD 124.2 million for the year ended December 2021 (loss of USD 0.67 per share).