On Thursday morning, a top executive at self-driving truck developer PlusAI received a congratulatory text message from an acquaintance who reported seeing two of PlusAI's trucks near their workplace in Newark, California. However, the trailers were not supposed to be there, as PlusAI believed they were docked outside its warehouse, located half a mile away. Police were called to the scene to assist in recovering the two trailers, which were marked with logos for PlusAI and Nvidia, a company collaborating with PlusAI on AI software and autonomous truck technology.
According to PlusAI employees, the trailers may have been abandoned after being broken into because they contained approximately 20,000 pounds of sand each. Lauren Kwan, a spokesperson for PlusAI, explained that the company uses simulated loads in its trailers for research and development testing. The police reported that the trailers were recovered with a total of 40,000 pounds of sand intact.
The tech-enabled truck cabs, which typically house the driver, were parked inside the warehouse and were not stolen. The trailers had been secured with hand locks, which were broken during the theft.
The Fremont Police Department is investigating the incident, and no arrests have been made, according to spokesperson Amy Gee. Nvidia did not respond to a request for comment.
This incident occurs amid a rise in thefts targeting high-value computer equipment, particularly chips and electronics intended for data centers. In August, WIRED reported on two incidents in California where thieves targeted vehicles escorting high-value tech loads. Millions of dollars worth of data center equipment from those incidents remain unrecovered.
Additionally, this year has seen thefts of Tesla batteries and bitcoin mining machines, with some suspects arrested, but many cases still unsolved. Common targets of cargo theft in recent months across the US include metals and enterprise-grade computer and networking equipment, as noted by analytics firm Verisk CargoNet.
By Thursday afternoon, the sand trailers were returned to PlusAI, according to the Fremont Police Department.