Ex-Apple and Uber self-driving veteran’s Humble Robotics raises $51M

Humble Robotics, a San Francisco start-up building self-driving electric freight vehicles, has raised $51m in a Series A round. Obvious Ventures led the round, announced on Thursday, and earlier investors Eclipse and Energy Impact Partners also took part.

The new money brings Humble’s total funding to $75m, less than a year after the company was founded. Six months ago, it came out of stealth with a $24m seed round led by Eclipse. It also showed its first vehicle, the Humble Hauler.

Unlike a normal lorry, the Hauler has no cab for a driver. Humble builds the truck and the software that drives it together, as one system. Without a cab, the Hauler is 20% lighter than traditional semi-trucks built for the same job, InsideEVs reported in April.

Dock to dock

The vehicle carries freight from one loading dock to another. It moves goods between ports, rail terminals, warehouses and distribution centres. The first version carries shipping containers. It has a maximum range of 200 miles (about 320km), according to InsideEVs. Its top speed is 55mph (about 90km/h).

Humble is focusing on regional routes rather than long-distance haulage. In 2021, 87% of US truck freight by weight travelled less than 250 miles (about 400km), according to the US Department of Energy.

No freight moved yet

With the new funding, the company plans to run pilots with customers, carry out more testing and start early manufacturing. It also wants to turn its modular platform into a wider family of vehicles for different freight jobs. It is working with regulators as it prepares for commercial use.

Humble has not yet moved freight commercially. Business Insider first reported the round. Founder and chief executive Eyal Cohen told the outlet that customer pilots will start in the first quarter of 2027, and commercial operations in the third quarter.

The team

Cohen said years had gone into proving that a truck can drive itself.

“The harder question is how to make autonomy something a freight operator can depend on every day.” Eyal Cohen, founder and CEO, Humble Robotics

Cohen previously worked on self-driving and electric vehicles at Apple, Uber and Waabi. His team, meanwhile, includes engineers from Tesla, Waymo and Cruise.

Mo Islam, a partner at Obvious Ventures, said Humble’s work could make US supply chains stronger. He said it could also make goods movement between key sites more reliable.

Other driverless freight companies are moving too. Gatik raised $200m in August for its driverless box trucks, and Lidl put Einride’s cabless truck into daily service in Germany in September.