State-of-the-art facility operated by Harbor Rail Services in Kinney County, Texas, will become the first US rail yard to deploy self-driving vehicles.

PASADENA, CA - COAST Autonomous (“COAST”) announced today that Harbor Rail Services of California (“Harbor Rail”) has selected COAST to deploy self-driving vehicles at the Kinney County Railport (“KCRP”), which Harbor Rail operates for Union Pacific Railroad.

This groundbreaking collaboration is the first deployment of self-driving vehicles at a US rail yard.  Harbor Rail and COAST teams have identified a number of areas where self-driving vehicles can add value, including staff transportation, delivery of supplies and equipment, perimeter security and lawn mowing.  COAST has completed 3D mapping of the facility, a first step in any such deployment, and the first self-driving vehicle is expected to begin service at KCRP next month.

“Through the introduction of re-designed trucks, innovative process improvements and adoption of data-driven KPIs, Harbor Rail successfully reduced railcar rejections rates from 30% to 0.03% in KCRP’s first year of operations,” said Mark Myronowicz, President of Harbor Rail.  “However, I am always looking for ways to improve our performance and provide an even better service for our customers.  At a large facility like KCRP, we have many functions that I am convinced can be carried out by COAST vehicles.  This will free up additional labor to work on railcars, make us even more efficient, help keep the facility safe at night and even cut the grass when most of us are asleep.  This is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate Harbor Rail’s commitment to being at the forefront of innovation and customer service.”

“This is an exciting moment for COAST and we are looking forward to working with Harbor Rail’s industry-leading team,” said David M. Hickey, Chairman and CEO of COAST Autonomous. KCRP is exactly the type of facility that will show how self-driving technology can improve efficiency and cut costs.  While the futuristic vision of driverless cars has grabbed most of the headlines, COAST’s team has been focused on useful mobility solutions that can actually be deployed and create tremendous value for private sites, campuses and urban centers.  Just as railroads are often the unsung heroes of the logistics industry, COAST-powered vehicles will happily go about their jobs unnoticed and quietly change the world.”