Autonomous car firm TuSimple on Wednesday claimed that its vehicles shaved 10 hours off what’s usually a 24-hour job.

The corporate examined its vehicles by hauling recent watermelons alongside a 951-mile route from Nogales, Arizona to Oklahoma Metropolis. The drive was a part of a pilot venture with TuSimple companions Giumarra, a produce grower and distributor, and the Related Wholesale Grocers.

The run usually takes 24 hours and 6 minutes with human drivers and conventional vehicles, however TuSimple’s automated driving techniques enabled a 42% sooner run of 14 hours and 6 minutes, the corporate mentioned.

Based on TuSimple, a human driver labored on the pick-up and supply of the produce. However in the course of the lengthy center phase of the drive — from Tucson, Arizona, to Dallas, Texas — TuSimple’s car drove itself with a human security driver on board.

A spokesperson for TuSimple advised CNBC the pilot was executed with a security driver on-board partly to adjust to a patchwork of native laws within the U.S. TuSimple goals to function its vehicles with no need a security driver on-board in any respect by the tip of 2024. Its vehicles will be pushed manually if and when wanted.

Immediately, federal regulation doesn’t restrict the usage of automated driving techniques within the U.S. Guidelines and enforcement are left to states. However a congressional subcommittee on Tuesday mentioned attainable guidelines and incentives that might encourage broader adoption of driverless automobiles and develop the rising business domestically.

As an rising tech firm, TuSimple will not be but worthwhile regardless of its market cap of greater than $7 billion. The roughly 800-employee startup spent $41.4 million on analysis and improvement within the first quarter this 12 months, and generated $944,000 in income throughout the identical interval.

The corporate goes after a major piece of an estimated $4 trillion international truck freight market.

Opponents creating autonomous car techniques particularly for hauling freight additionally embody Aurora, Tesla through its Heavy Trucking unit, Daimler Vans (through their Torc Robotics subsidiary), Amazon-backed Embark and Alphabet‘s Waymo, amongst others within the U.S.

Some rivals, joined by the likes of Toyota-backed Pony.ai and Nuro, are creating driverless automobiles for “contactless” meals deliveries to shoppers as properly.

Previous to its IPO, TuSimple struck partnerships with and scored monetary backing from Volkswagen AG’s heavy-truck enterprise, The Traton Group, and from Navistar to develop their automobiles. It additionally raised funds from the enterprise arm of UPS, and partnered with the U.S. Postal Service to conduct a multi-state take a look at program operating vehicles between Dallas and Phoenix.