Texas Officials Announce Autonomous Freight Shuttle at Port of Houston

Texas A&M Transportation Institutes

Researchers at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute are partnering with private investors and the Port of Houston to build what is being described as the first autonomous freight shuttle system to move truck trailers and containers through congested ports and border crossings on an elevated guideway.

The electric-powered shuttle transporter would use about one-third of the energy required by diesel trucks.

“The FSS was created through almost a decade of research at Texas A&M Transportation Institute that has produced 17 patents held jointly by Texas A&M University System and Freight Shuttle International, a company created by private investors to transfer the concept design to commercial reality,” said Rick Davenport, a spokesman for Texas A&M.

Officials from FSI and the Port of Houston Authority are expected to sign an agreement to begin planning for construction of the first freight shuttle at the Port of Houston, although no date was given for completion of the project.