Sensible 4 and Japan's UD Trucks Partner to Automate Heavy-Duty Truck

Finnish automated driving technology company, Sensible 4, and Japanese commercial vehicle solutions provider, UD Trucks, have announced a partnership to automate a heavy-duty truck, enabling the autonomous transportation, and dumping, of material, at a live industrial site in Japan. The project marks the beginning of a partnership between UD Trucks and Sensible 4.

The two companies have successfully retrofitted UD Trucks’ flagship heavy-duty Quon to enable it to operate autonomously to transport, and dump, material at one of UD’s customer sites.

Following the release of its automated driving software platform DAWN earlier in 2022, Sensible 4 recently announced that it is rolling out its product to the industrial segment. 

UD Trucks is a Japanese commercial vehicle solutions provider, active in more than 60 countries.

Harri Santamala, Sensible 4's CEO, says: “We’re delighted to partner with such a prestigious company. UD Trucks is a true category leader, within the commercial vehicle space, who share our passion for developing innovative technology. We know that industrial site operators need to reliably increase their productivity and address challenges surrounding driver shortages. Partnering with UD Trucks enables us to provide a solution to these challenges, which in turn has the potential to revolutionise mobility across the industrial segment. This project demonstrates how close we are to realising the benefit of automation within industrial sites.”

Douglas Nakano, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of UD Trucks Technology, adds: “We’re excited to be a part of this groundbreaking project to deliver automated trucks to customers who need present-day solutions to address the driver shortage. Sensible 4’s software meets the positioning and environmental requirements our industrial customers demand to make self-driving operations commercially viable. The collaboration has been flexible and customised to our needs. We are very happy with the results.”

Headquartered in Finland, Sensible 4 has a global team with over 20 different nationalities, and offices in Espoo, Finland and Tokyo, Japan.