NuPort Robotics has completed a year-long project testing autonomous trucking and truck platooning in the complex operating environment surrounding the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia, Ont.
The project, conducted from February 2025 through January 2026, was supported by the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN) and involved collaboration with The Federal Bridge Corporation Ltd., which operates the Canadian side of the international crossing.
The testing focused on how autonomous systems perform in a border environment, where trucks must navigate congestion, customs approaches, controlled access points and frequent interactions with other traffic.
According to NuPort, the project included site evaluations, data collection, manual driving and autonomous vehicle testing, culminating in a live demonstration within the Blue Water Bridge corridor.
The company also demonstrated truck platooning using a human-driven lead vehicle and a retrofitted Class 8 truck operating autonomously behind it with a safety driver onboard. NuPort said the system maintained consistent following distances and responsiveness throughout the route.
“Projects like this are important because they help us better understand how emerging freight technologies may interact with critical border infrastructure in a real operating environment,” said Joe DeDecker, CEO of The Federal Bridge Corporation Ltd.
NuPort CEO Raghavender Sahdev said the project allowed the company to evaluate its autonomous driving technology in one of trucking’s more challenging operating environments.
The company retrofits existing Class 8 trucks with sensors, onboard computing and proprietary autonomous driving software, rather than building purpose-built autonomous vehicles.
While the testing was confined to the Canadian side of the border, NuPort said it was designed with future cross-border freight operations between Sarnia and Detroit in mind.
The company described the project as an early step toward validating autonomous trucking systems in border-adjacent freight operations, although commercial deployment across international crossings remains subject to regulatory approval and further development.
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