The first year for a startup may not be smooth sailing. It can be spent ironing out the wrinkles, as the co-founder of Ten5 — an app that facilitates communication between drivers and fleet managers — discovered. 

"Interactive voice technology in a noisy vehicle has proven to be more difficult than we originally anticipated," Drew Ryder, co-founder of Ten5, said in an email.

When Transport Dive named Ten5 a "wild card" on its list of startups to watch in 2021, it was unclear if the company would manage to launch that year. But, it did. And the company is now partnering with a voice technology company that has experience with interactive voice platforms, Ryder said.

The 2021 list of transport-related startups was based on funding as listed on Crunchbase, their launch date, and the product or service these companies had created. They were startups located in North America, six years of age or fewer, and with less than $1 billion in funding.

One year later, things have changed and lessons have been learned — for Ten5 and some others on the list. Read on to see how they performed in the last 12 months.

Locomation

Launched: 2018 | Total funding: $57 million

In July 2021, Locomation celebrated its third anniversary by moving into larger quarters in Pittsburgh’s Robotic Row and relocating to permanent garage space at the Transportation Research Center in East Liberty, Ohio. TRC houses the largest test track and proving grounds in the nation. 

These moves helped accommodate the influx of new employees — a 300% increase in just nine months.

In the last year, the company also signed an eight-year agreement with PGT Trucking to deploy more than 1,000 Autonomous Relay Convoy systems

Locomation also rolled out the third generation of autonomous trucks, employing the Kenworth T860 model as the base platform. 

TuSimple

Launched: 2015 | Total funding: $648.1 million

TuSimple became the first dedicated autonomous driving company to go public in April of 2021, Senior Director of Marketing Jason Wallace said in an email. The company had a traditional initial public offering on Nasdaq.

TuSimple continued its partnership with UPS and, together, surpassed driving 160,000 autonomous miles, which is more than six times around the earth. DHL chose TuSimple to assist them in adopting, integrating and scaling autonomous technology into their logistics operations in addition to moving freight for them.   

"On December 22, 2021, we became the first company in the world to operate a class 8 heavy-duty truck on open public roads without a human in the vehicle and without human intervention," Wallace said. "The test covered 80 miles over surface streets and highways in Arizona."

TuSimple recently announced a partnership with Union Pacific that expands operations without a safety driver. The deal is the first commercial test of TuSimple's "Driver Out" program.

Kodiak Robotics

Launched: 2018 | Total funding: $165 million

Closing its $125 million Series B funding round in 2021 increased Kodiak Robotics’ total investments to $165 million. One of those investments came from Bridgestone America, which will allow it to incorporate its smart-sensing tire technologies into Kodiak’s Level 4 autonomous trucks.

Other big moments this past year include being named a Consumer Electronics Show 2021 Innovation Awards Honoree for its self-driving, long-haul trucks, unveiling a fourth-generation hardware platform and launching service between Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin, and between Dallas/Fort Worth and San Antonio, Head of Policy Daniel Goff said in an email. 

Kodiak isn’t resting on those successes. The company’s plans for 2022 include a number of new initiatives. 

"One of those we’re excited about is our work with law enforcement to help prepare for driverless operations," Goff said. "We recently hired Brett Fabbri, a retired assistant chief at the California Highway Patrol, to work with law enforcement across the country on our behalf."  

Convoy

Launched: 2015 | Total funding: $675.5 million

During the past year, Convoy expanded its drop-and-hook service, Convoy Go. In May, it added new automated drop-and-hook services for backup and spot freight. That proved helpful when unexpected surges occurred. 

Mid-year, the company announced a strategic partnership with Flexport to bring end-to-end shipment automation across land, sea and air. 

In August, it once again increased the capabilities of Convoy Go by providing power-only capacity to haul private fleets’ preloaded and empty dry van trailers through Convoy’s network of more than 300,000 tractors.

Most recently, Convoy opened up its digital freight network with the launch of Convoy for Brokers. The program lets brokers use an online platform where they can manage their loads, incoming bids, TMS integrations and then book and manage loads. Convoy for Brokers levels zero upfront costs and invoices aren’t sent until loads are successfully booked.

Idelic

Launched: 2016 | Total funding:  $31 million

Executive hires and other new staff marked a 30% increase in employees during 2021. Idelic gathers information on truck drivers so they can predict potential traffic accidents and avoid them thereby also steering clear of nuclear verdicts. 

The company also completed a $20 million Series B fundraising round, which was led by Highland Capital Partners and with participation from AXA Venture Partners.

Idelic has forged new integrations and strategic partnerships to meet the technology needs of fleets. In the past year, these partnerships have evolved from several key segments in the transportation industry including cameras, ELDs, compliance and fleet maintenance.

The company more than doubled its customer base in 2021.