Saudi AI firm Humain, Applied Intuition partner on self-driving trucks

Saudi Arabia’s Humain is partnering with Applied Intuition Inc. to deploy self-driving trucks by 2030, as the kingdom’s leading artificial intelligence firm looks to find practical uses for the technology that align with national priorities.

Humain’s collaboration with the California-based startup aims to build a national autonomous logistics network, expanding beyond trucks to robotaxis and ports, the company announced at the sidelines of the LEAP technology conference in Riyadh on Monday.

“Our goal with Applied Intuition is to make this region the first to deploy autonomous trucking at scale,” said Tareq Amin, Humain’s chief executive officer. The US firm has opened an office in Riyadh as part of the deal.

Backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and oil giant Aramco, Humain is leading the kingdom’s ambitions to become a key global player in AI. Its latest deal ties into a broader push by the $900 billion Public Investment Fund to prioritize sectors including logistics, as the Iran war upends trade routes in the region.

The kingdom’s Red Sea coast had emerged as a vital corridor to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, which has been all but closed to commerce since the war began. In recent weeks, however, tankers using that alternative route have come under attack from Yemen’s Houthi militant group.

For Humain, the partnership marks its latest attempt to apply AI at home. Since it was set up last year, it has embarked on a dealmaking spree to build the infrastructure and computing capacity needed to train and run AI models. Humain’s push into physical applications could distinguish it from firms focusing on generative AI.

Beyond building massive data centers, Humain has invested in AI video-generation startup Luma AI and formed a joint venture with chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. to build up data center capacity in Saudi Arabia. At LEAP, the company also announced partnering with MinIO, a startup which provides data for enterprise AI.

Sovereign wealth funds in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates control more than $4 trillion, and many of these oil-rich countries have made AI central to their economic diversification. That’s made them key players in an industry poised to reshape many aspects of everyday life.

That push is extending into autonomous vehicles. The Qatar Investment Authority backed Applied Intuition in a funding round last year that valued the company at $15 billion. More recently, Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co. led a funding round for Moove, valuing the mobility firm at $2.1 billion.