The enterprise of shifting items in the US is dominated by vans, which deal with about two-thirds of the 20.2 billion tons of freight that’s transported yearly. Parallel Methods founder and CEO, Matt Soule, needs to vary that by placing a contemporary autonomous and electrical twist on the centuries-old railroad system.
The Los Angeles-based firm is constructing battery-powered autonomous freight expertise that works with current freight automobiles and integrates with current practice management software program. Soule’s pitch: Parallel’s system makes it cheaper for firms to make use of rail — not vans — for short-distance deliveries.
Rail has been historically underutilized as a result of trains are usually powered by massive and costly locomotives that pull tons of of freight automobiles at a time over lengthy distances, Soule defined to TechCrunch. Companies typically flip to vans for shifting freight shorter distances.
Parallel Methods developed a system that permits practice automobiles to connect and detach autonomously. This implies firms can use Parallel’s tech for quite a lot of completely different supply sizes and people don’t must manually join and disconnect the automobiles — a harmful course of. Parallel’s tech additionally permits freight automobiles to brake considerably faster than current trains, Soule added.
“We’re using a different physical architecture to accomplish truck competitive economics at small scale rather than big scale,” Soule mentioned. “The vehicle itself is compatible with existing rail infrastructure. It is designed and being demonstrated to operate alongside traditional rail operations. We’re not proposing to replace existing freight trains with this.”
Parallel not too long ago was authorised by the Federal Railroad Administration to begin piloting the tech in Georgia. This program will enable the corporate to check its tech-enabled trains alongside a 160-mile stretch between the Port of Savannah in Savannah, Georgia, and a number of distribution websites within the state.
Parallel additionally not too long ago raised a $38 million Sequence B spherical led by Anthos Capital with participation from Collaborative Fund, Congruent Ventures, and Riot Ventures, amongst others. This brings Parallel’s complete funding to greater than $100 million. The contemporary capital can be put towards commercialization with the corporate hoping to host its preliminary business launch in 2026.
Sophie Bakalar, a associate at Collaborative Fund, informed TechCrunch that whereas Parallel doesn’t neatly match into its consumer-leaning generalist thesis, the agency was intrigued by the corporate after getting launched by way of an current founder of their portfolio.
Whereas Collaborative Fund doesn’t usually make investments on this space, delivery and the motion of products does have a big effect on the patron firms Collab is normally backing, mentioned Bakalar, including that it’s exhausting to move up a very good alternative — even whether it is off-thesis.
“I think this team is really uniquely positioned to solve this problem,” Bakalar mentioned. “Just not many folks are going to be able to do it. I think it is a team that has a founder-product fit. It is a massive market and a massive challenge.”
Soule doesn’t have a background in rail, particularly. Nevertheless, he does have a historical past of working in regulated transportation. He spent 20 years in aerospace, 13 of which had been at SpaceX.
“We were constantly developing new technologies,” Soule mentioned. “I worked in avionics, which is electronics and software that controls the rocket and got incredibly curious about how all these technologies could benefit other types of industries that have maybe not seen as much innovation.”
He launched the corporate in 2020 and now, 5 years later, Parallel has constructed out the expertise and is concentrated on commercialization.
Whereas getting firms to vary their delivery and distribution methods may very well be a big feat, demand for various options is there, Soule mentioned. He added that they’ve had curiosity from throughout the globe however plan to give attention to the U.S. and Australia for now.
This information additionally comes because the U.S. hangs in tariff limbo. If tariffs do find yourself going by way of, Bakalar predicts it may fire up extra demand for firms like Parallel as firms will seemingly be seeking to reduce prices in any method.
“This is like a generational innovation in terms of freight and you don’t see a lot of change in the freight industry,” Soule mentioned. “But this is hitting on points that matter.”
