Embark \USA

Step 2 (Months 7-12): Validate Unit Economics and Data Flywheel - Expand pilot to 200 trucks across 3 fleet partners. Prove that co-pilot mode generates positive ROI within 6 months (fuel savings + insurance discounts > $6K/year subscription cost). Collect 5M+ miles of real-world driving data on I-35 corridor. Use NVIDIA Omniverse to generate 50M miles of synthetic data for edge cases (construction zones, severe weather, animal crossings). Train end-to-end autonomous driving model using imitation learning (behavior cloning from human drivers) + reinforcement learning (reward function based on safety, fuel efficiency, on-time delivery). Achieve 95% autonomous capability on highway segments in simulation. Raise $15M Series A from logistics-focused VCs (Trucks VC, Dynamo Ventures) and strategic investors (fleet operators, truck OEMs). Hire 10-person ML team (poach from Waymo, Aurora, Tesla) and 5-person regulatory/safety team.

Step 3 (Months 13-24): Launch 'Supervised Autonomy' on I-35 Corridor - Introduce Level 3 autonomy (driver monitors but doesn't control) on specific highway segments of I-35 between San Antonio and Laredo (200-mile stretch, minimal construction, low traffic density). Require safety driver to be alert and ready to take over, but system handles 90%+ of driving. Use Temporal.io to orchestrate handoffs: system alerts driver 30 seconds before construction zone, driver takes over, system resumes after zone. Charge $2,000/month per truck for supervised autonomy mode. Target 50 trucks in supervised mode, generating $100K MRR. Collect 10M+ miles of supervised autonomy data. Use Claude 3.5 for real-time edge case reasoning: when the system encounters an ambiguous scenario (e.g., unclear lane markings), it queries Claude with camera images + LIDAR point cloud + context, gets a reasoning chain, and either handles autonomously or requests driver takeover. Achieve 99.5% autonomous miles (driver intervention rate < 0.5%). File for NHTSA exemption for driverless operations on I-35 corridor.

Step 4 (Months 25-36): Build the Moat with Full Autonomy and Network Effects - Launch Level 4 autonomy (no driver required) on I-35 corridor for 10 trucks, operating 24/7 with remote monitoring (1 remote operator per 10 trucks). Charge 20% of cost savings (vs. human-driven trucks), which equals ~$15K/month per truck. Expand to 100 fully autonomous trucks, generating $1.5M MRR. The moat comes from: (a) Data flywheel - every autonomous mile improves the model, making it safer and more reliable than competitors, (b) Regulatory moat - first-mover advantage in Texas, with NHTSA exemption creating 12-18 month lead time for competitors, (c) Fleet partnerships - exclusive contracts with 5+ major fleet operators who have invested in the retrofit kits and training, (d) Corridor dominance - I-35 becomes the 'autonomous highway' with transfer hubs in Dallas, San Antonio, and Laredo, creating network effects (more trucks = better hub utilization = lower costs), and (e) Vertical integration - acquire a small trucking company (50-100 trucks) to operate a fully autonomous fleet, proving the business model end-to-end. Raise $100M Series B to expand to additional corridors (I-10 Texas-Arizona, I-40 Oklahoma-New Mexico) and build proprietary sensor suite (custom LIDAR + camera array) to reduce hardware costs 50%. Path to IPO: $50M ARR by Year 5, 1,000+ autonomous trucks, 50M+ autonomous miles, and clear path to nationwide expansion.