Outrider Inc., whose automated distribution yard robotics led to a $73 million capital raise in a brutal market for startup funding, is adding computer vision and deep learning to track wayward semi-trailers.

The patent-pending trailer inventory technology provides real-time tracking of trailers and containers in yards. That includes trailers missing radio frequency identification tags.

Trailers are constantly on the move in distribution yards for unloading, cleaning, loading, staging and storage. Sometimes, they get lost. Finding them requires yard personnel to run them down either on foot or by driving a vehicle, then manually updating their location…

Outrider uses technology already installed on its autonomous electric yard trucks to collect the locations of parked trailers during routine operations or as needed. Sensors and proprietary and deep learning-enabled computer vision algorithms detect vacant or occupied parking spots and capture trailer identification numbers and standard carrier alpha codes and other characteristics.