Outrider is building autonomous yard trucks into trailer-move operations

Outrider announced on July 10, 2025 that TÜV SÜD had reviewed its functional safety approach for driverless yard operations. The company says commissioning and deployment of latest-generation driverless yard trucks would begin with select enterprise customers in the second half of 2025.

The safety system includes 14 safety mechanisms addressing more than 200,000 yard-operation hazards. Yard automation has to handle over-the-road trucks, delivery vehicles, warehouse personnel, dock doors, parked trailers, weather, lighting changes, and tight backing maneuvers around heavy equipment.

Mission Control dispatches and monitors trailer moves onsite or remotely, while TrailerConnect lets the autonomous vehicle connect brake and electric lines to trailers. Outrider’s TrailerConnect release described a patented robotic system for attaching those lines without modifications or adapters to trailer fleets, turning coupling from a manual yard task into part of the autonomy stack.

Outrider is led by founder and CEO Andrew Smith, and came out of stealth in 2020 with $53 million in funding for autonomous electric yard trucks. The company’s focus is narrower than long-haul autonomy: distribution yards are bounded environments, but they are dense, chaotic, repetitive, and safety-sensitive.

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