Robots On The Outside

by | Nov 20, 2025 | Uncategorized

Robots On The Outside-"Autonomous Trucking Industrial Real Estate"


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Robots On The Outside

Welcome to The Real Estate Espresso Podcast. Good morning, shining a light on what’s new in the world of real estate investing. I’m your host, Victor Menasce. On yesterday’s show, we talked about how artificial intelligence might be influencing the functional obsolescence of industrial warehouses. On today’s show, we’re looking at another aspect of artificial intelligence and how it could affect the value of industrial real estate. We’re focusing on how transportation is going to evolve with the advent of autonomous trucking, and how this could affect industrial real estate. This may seem like a stretch, like science fiction, or something for the distant future, but it’s much closer than you think.

Although it will take time before there is substantial penetration in the trucking industry, there are numerous companies investing in this field. Notable leaders include Bott Auto and Kodiak Robotics. Both companies retrofit their technology to existing trucks, while other companies are partnering with truck manufacturers directly to incorporate their offerings as part of new truck purchases. Autonomous trucking is currently being trialed to address a systemic shortage of drivers for long-haul trucking. The first step in automation is going to be on those long haul routes with the first mile and last mile, involving human drivers. This evolution is likely to change how transportation logistics is undertaken in North America over the next few years.

Once we understand how trucking is changing, we may also see shifts in the requirements for the real estate components of logistics. Texas is considered the national leader and testing ground for autonomous trucking due to several factors. These factors include a flexible regulatory regime that allows autonomous vehicles to operate on roads without a human driver under certain circumstances, and certain highways like I-35 between Austin and Dallas Fort Worth, as well as I-45 between Dallas and Houston, are among the most freight-dense in the country.

There are many developments underway for other corridors between Dallas, Austin, and Houston. One such activity being the creation of a SMART corridor called SH-130. The Texas Department of Transportation has developed a SMART corridor on this highway that serves the Austin area. This 21-mile segment between Georgetown and Del Valle is equipped with sensors and cameras and radar to create a digital model of a highway. The technology provides diagnostics to the highway operations, providing feedback on how the trucks perform. It sends information on road conditions, traffic slowdowns, and hazards directly to connected and autonomous vehicles. This project, the Texas Connected Freight corridor, started in May 2024 and focuses on the triangle between Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston on major highways like Interstate 10, I-35, and I-45.

Companies like Aurora Innovation are piloting commercial driverless vehicles between Dallas and Houston. Similarly, Kodiak Robotics, which is based in Lancaster, very close to Dallas-Fort Worth, currently hosts operations with a safety driver in the left seat and is delivering freight for customers on a network that includes Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. They plan to start sending trucks without drivers on certain routes in the very near future. The intention is to have driverless trucking for long hauls with the first mile, last mile, with a driver in the left seat.

Many of the new trucks will also be electric vehicles. For instance, Tesla’s semi-truck is slowly hitting the market. The first vehicles were delivered to companies like Pepsi-Cola and DHL back in December 2022, and since then, a handful has been delivered to other customers for real-world testing. Full production is expected to commence in the first half of 2026. A key requirement for these trucks is a high-capacity charger. They have a range of between 400-500 miles, but they require a 1,000-volt system that can supply 1.2mW at any given instance. Accurate power supply to just one Tesla semi is equivalent to the power required for about 988 homes. That means for every truck you want to charge, you will need the power capacity of 1,000 homes available at your warehouse. This could present a major issue for warehouses without access to such high power capacity.

If you can’t get that power, your warehouse could become functionally obsolete. Real-world testing from both PepsiCo and DHL suggested that one can charge these semi-trucks to their full capacity range of about 400 miles in less than an hour. The historical criteria for choosing warehouses, such as ceiling height, slab capacity, and square footage, may no longer be sufficient. Proximity to a high-capacity electric substation might also become crucial.

This could influence the desirability of your warehouse. As you think about that, have an awesome rest of your day. Go make some great things happen! We’ll talk again tomorrow!

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