Public Live: Embark CEO On Bringing Self-Driving Software to the $70 Billion U.S. Trucking Market

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have become a popular way to take companies public through reverse mergers. During a recent Public Live audio show, business journalist Dion Rabouin sat down with Alex Rodrigues, the Co-Founder and CEO of Embark Trucks,an autonomous vehicle (AV) software as a service (SaaS) company, to discuss the plans to go public. Here’s a snapshot of the conversation.

Dion Rabouin: What is Embark and what do you do?

Alex Rodrigues: The US trucking market is $70 billion and moves 70 percent of all goods that get delivered. This includes food, cars, and electronics. It is a hugely influential space. It hasn’t been focused on self-driving cars. I have a background in robotics, and there is a great fit between robotics and business to create value. [With] self-driving trucks, we can take a route between two cities and use a driverless truck to take it most of the way, with human drivers handling the first and last mile.

DR: How does this make trucking more fuel-efficient?

AR: This is about 10 percent more fuel-efficient because we can set a speed over long distances and we do not need to take breaks.

DR: What has it been like to take the company public?

AR: It’s been an interesting experience at 25. My entire life focus has been on robotics, so this is new. That’s why it is great to partner with Sequoia Capital while private and now Northern Genesis II. 

DR: There are a couple of competitors in your space. Why invest in Embark?

AR: We are excited to see folks like Amazon spending money in this space. We are focused on bringing in important names in the industry, and we have been successful in doing that. I’m excited to see big brand tech names getting involved, and we have built the most complete partner program that brings in the top fleets and shippers. They are the top customers for our products. This ties into our asset model. Instead of trying to do everything from top to bottom, we are focused on building the best software and partnering with the owners and operators of the trucks. That allows us to be scalable.

DR: Do you have revenue projections yet?

AR: Embark’s focus is to build a fully self-driving truck that can operate without someone in the inside. We want to bring that to market in 2024. That’s the earliest that anyone is talking about doing this.

DR: Elaine Chao is now on your board of directors. She’s tied to Mitch McConnell and the Trump administration. How does this impact your company?

AR: We’re excited to have Secretary Chao. This was not a political decision. It was a decision about safely getting these trucks on the road as soon as possible. She was Secretary of Transportation under Trump and has served eight years as the Secretary of Labor in other administrations. She has plenty of private experience as well. We’re looking at her incredible experience as a high-quality board member. She knows how to run these companies, and can navigate important issues for the company. She’s highly respected on both sides of the Hill.

DR: Can you talk about how patient investors need to be with the rollout?

AR: Embark has been a disciplined company when it comes to making forecasts.We like to be very thoughtful with our statements. When we have a line of sight to deployment, we will let you know. We feel very good about the tech progress. We have a capability roadmap for our fleet and partner fleets. We will show off our new capabilities in the hopper.

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The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.