铁路行业是最早利用技术改变世界运作方式之一的行业，但近来，货运铁路领域的创新几乎仅限于列车越来越长。
The railroad industry was one of the first to disrupt how the world worked with technology, but lately, innovation in freight railroading has amounted to little more than longer and longer trains.
这导致许多铁路公司放弃了较短的路线，将1万亿美元地面货运市场的一部分让给了卡车运输公司。然而，随着柴油价格创下历史新高，一些原本依赖卡车运输的公司也开始破产，从而在市场上留下了空白。最近几周，至少有16家卡车运输公司宣告破产。
That has led many railroads to abandon shorter routes, ceding a chunk of the $1 trillion surface freight market to trucking companies. But as diesel prices reach record highs, some of those very trucking companies are going bust, leaving a hole in the market. Recently, at least 16 trucking companies went bankrupt over only a few weeks.
Parallel Systems或许能找到一种方法，既能保持货运的持续运转，又能帮助铁路公司重新夺回市场份额。这家初创公司开发了一种铁路车辆，能够在无人操作的情况下运输数吨货物，最远可达500英里。如果该公司能够扩大其Panther车型的生产规模，那么短途运输业务将有望再次为铁路公司带来利润。
Parallel Systems might have a way to keep freight moving while allowing railroads to recapture market share. The startup has developed a rail vehicle capable of moving over several tons of freight as far as 500 miles without an operator. If the company can scale production of its Panther vehicles, it stands to make railroads profitable over short hauls once again.
“对于铁路公司而言，运输距离低于500英里很难具备竞争力，”Parallel Systems的联合创始人兼首席执行官Matt Soule在接受TechCrunch采访时说，“我们的技术能让铁路公司承接部分原本由卡车运输的货物，这对公众也有利。”由于该车辆运行在铁路上，因此不会加剧交通拥堵；又因它使用电池供电，所以也不会造成污染。
“Less than 500 miles is hard for railroads to do competitively,” Matt Soule, co-founder and CEO of Parallel Systems, told TechCrunch. “Our technology allows them to take some of that trucking, and it’s for the public’s benefit.”Because it runs on railroads, Parallel’s vehicle doesn’t contribute to traffic congestion, and because it’s battery powered, it doesn’t pollute.
为了扩大第三代车辆的生产规模并加快商业化进程，Parallel Systems已完成由AVP领投、Hillspire、Agility Global、Cobalt Capital、Anthos Capital、Congruent Ventures、Riot Capital和Collaborative Fund共同参与的1亿美元C轮融资。
To scale manufacturing of its third-generation vehicle and speed the commercial rollout, Parallel Systems has raised a $100 million Series C led by AVP, with participation from Hillspire, Agility Global, Cobalt Capital, Anthos Capital, Congruent Ventures, Riot Capital, and Collaborative Fund.
Soule和他的联合创始人曾在SpaceX工作多年，负责设计火箭航空电子设备，之后于2020年创立了Parallel Systems。
Soule and his co-founders started Parallel Systems in 2020 after years at SpaceX, where they designed rocket avionics systems.
Parallel公司的车辆既可以独立行驶，也可以以编队形式运行，而这些编队通常比传统火车更短。这种模式打破了铁路行业普遍采用的“精准铁路运营”策略：随着铁路行业的成熟，投资者的压力促使各大公司建造更长的列车，并按照固定时刻表运行，从而将劳动力等部分成本分摊到更多的货运量上。
Parallel’s vehicles can travel either independently or in platoons, which tend to be shorter than typical trains. It’s an approach that bucks the prevailing strategy used by railroads, known as precision railroading: As the railroad industry has matured, investor pressure has driven companies to build longer trains and operate them on fixed schedules, which helps spread some costs like labor across more freight.
随着铁路公司逐步退出较短的运输线路，卡车运输公司则填补了空白。如今，美国约有60%的货运行程距离在500英里以内，而卡车运输公司承担了其中大部分。
As railroads have pulled back from smaller routes, trucking companies have stepped in. Today, some 60% of freight trips in the U.S. are under 500 miles, and trucking companies handle a majority of those.
但道路上卡车数量的增加也意味着交通拥堵加剧，港口地区尤其明显。“如果你去过萨凡纳港，就会看到进出港口的卡车长龙——简直令人抓狂，”Soule说道。
But more trucks on the road means more congestion, and nowhere is that more apparent than at ports. “If you ever go to the Port of Savannah, you see the truck lines coming in and out of the port — it’s insanity,” Soule said.
与传统火车车厢不同，Parallel公司的车辆没有连接装置，而是以未连接的形式组成编队在轨道上行驶。这种无连接装置的设计意味着，一旦编队到达编组站，车辆无需人工干预即可分开行驶。此外，在“Panther”车辆获准在特定轨道段运行后，其传感器会持续监测轨道，确保前方路段没有障碍物。
Unlike traditional train cars, Parallel’s vehicles don’t have couplers, instead forming uncoupled platoons that move down the rails. The coupler-free design means that, once a platoon reaches a train yard, the vehicles can split up without needing human intervention. And after the Panther is cleared to operate on a section of track, its sensors monitor the rails to ensure the track ahead is clear of obstacles.
尽管这家初创公司正在试图分食现有卡车运输公司的业务，但后者仍对Parallel表现出浓厚兴趣。短途货运公司通过每次完成货物配送来盈利，但即使卡车在港口等拥堵严重的地方陷入交通堵塞，它们也无法因此收取更高费用。通过将货物更贴近客户门口进行运输，Parallel能让卡车公司每天完成更多次配送。“他们需要确定性，需要能够顺利运输，”Soule说道。
Trucking companies have been intrigued by Parallel, despite the fact that the startup is claiming part of a business they currently own. Drayage companies, which move freight short distances, make money for each load they deliver, but they don’t get to charge more when a truck gets stuck in a traffic jam, even at a port where such congestion is common. By moving freight closer to a customer’s door, Parallel allows trucking companies to make more deliveries per day. “They want certainty, they want to be able to move,” Soule said.
Parallel 在一年半前获得了美国联邦铁路管理局的批准，得以在佐治亚州萨凡纳港附近运营。目前，它已在 160 英里的铁轨上运行，以验证其系统的安全性。
Parallel obtained approval a year-and-a-half ago from the Federal Railroad Administration to operate near the Port of Savannah in Georgia, where it has been operating on 160 miles of track to prove the safety of its system.
Soule 表示：“我们一直在验证所有安全控制和运营实践，这些内容在真实环境中进行评估最为有效，而且我们很快将迎来首次商业货物运输。”
“We’ve been verifying all the safety controls and operating practices that are best evaluated in a real-world setting with a path toward our first commercial payload coming up very soon,” Soule said.