HUMAIN and Applied Intuition plan to deploy thousands of autonomous trucks across key Saudi logistics corridors by 2030. (Image source: HUMAIN)Saudi Arabian artificial intelligence company HUMAIN and Silicon Valley software developer Applied Intuition plan to deploy thousands of autonomous trucks across the kingdom’s principal logistics corridors by 2030, laying out one of the industry’s most ambitious national-scale automation targets.
The companies described the arrangement as a long-term commercial partnership focused initially on autonomous freight. They intend to establish a unified logistics network that could later support autonomous systems in ports, robotaxis, mining, manufacturing, agriculture and construction.
HUMAIN will contribute its Saudi-based computing and AI infrastructure, while Applied Intuition will supply the software behind the vehicles. The technology package includes Applied Intuition’s Self-Driving System, Vehicle OS and related vehicle-intelligence products.
Applied Intuition said its self-driving system is already operating on Level 4 trucks and on roads in the United States, Europe and Japan. Under the definition used by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Level 4 automation allows a system to perform the entire driving task without a human driver, but only within specified operating areas and conditions. The classification does not mean a vehicle can drive autonomously everywhere.
Saudi deployment will present a distinct set of technical demands. Long freight routes, high temperatures, airborne sand and varying road conditions can affect sensors, computing equipment and vehicle performance. Applied Intuition said information collected during operation feeds into its simulation and development systems, allowing engineers to reproduce road scenarios and test software changes before returning them to the fleet.
Applied Intuition has established an office in Riyadh and is assembling a local technical team to launch and operate the planned fleets.
The truck project is the first major initiative under HUMAIN’s physical AI strategy, a term used for AI systems that perceive their surroundings and control machines in the physical world.
Starting with freight gives the partners a more structured operating environment than an immediate move into urban robotaxis. Highway trucking generally involves repeatable routes and clearly defined logistics hubs, although commercial service would still require extensive testing, safety validation and regulatory coordination.
The project also fits Saudi Arabia’s broader effort to strengthen its position as an international logistics center. The country’s National Industrial Development and Logistics Program places industrial development, supply-chain capacity and the kingdom’s location between Asia, Europe and Africa at the center of its economic-diversification strategy.
Saudi logistics activity is already substantial. Official 2024 figures from the General Authority for Statistics recorded 25.7 million metric tons of freight passing through road ports, alongside 331.3 million metric tons moved through seaports. The authority also counted 23 active logistics centers and more than 12,000 licensed commercial warehouses.
Applied Intuition is bringing experience from an active commercial-freight program to the Saudi project. The company and Isuzu Motors have deployed second-generation autonomous trucks on a 450-kilometer (280-mile) route between Japan’s Tochigi and Aichi prefectures. Those vehicles carry commercial cargo and currently operate with safety drivers as the companies work toward Level 4 driverless service.
Each journey also supplies information to Applied Intuition’s development system. Engineers can reproduce situations encountered on the road in simulations, examine how the autonomous-driving software responded and test updates before returning validated models to the vehicles. The same development process is expected to support trucks operating across Saudi Arabia’s long-distance freight network.
Preparations inside the kingdom have already begun. Applied Intuition said trucks are on the ground, while its new Riyadh office is recruiting a technical team to help deploy, operate and expand the fleet. HUMAIN will provide the domestic AI infrastructure underpinning the network, and the partners are targeting thousands of autonomous trucks across major logistics corridors by 2030.
Trucking will serve as the first practical test of the partnership’s broader physical-AI model. Applied Intuition already works with Komatsu on autonomous haulage, collision avoidance and connected vehicles in mining, giving the company experience beyond public-road transportation. HUMAIN and Applied Intuition plan to explore robotaxis, ports, mining, manufacturing, agriculture and construction after the freight rollout, although those later applications remain separate future phases.
