Thieves in California stole two large trailers bearing prominent Nvidia logos, only to abandon the cargo less than half a mile away after discovering what was inside.
Plus AI, a self-driving truck technology company, had two large trailers stolen from a facility in Fremont, California, on the night of the 23rd, according to the U.S. technology publication Wired and the local outlet San Francisco Standard on the 26th.
The thieves are believed to have broken the facility's locks and hauled the trailers away by hitching them to a tractor unit they had driven to the site. The outside of the trailers carried large Nvidia logos alongside Plus AI branding.
The trailers did not get far. They were found on the side of a road in Newark, about half a mile from the scene, with their rear doors open.
The question was what the trailers had been carrying. Instead of expensive AI chips or electronics, they held a combined 40,000 pounds, or about 18 tons, of sand. Plus AI had loaded the sand to simulate hauling real freight while testing its self-driving trucks.
Plus AI believes the thieves may have seen the Nvidia logo on the trailers and assumed high-value equipment was inside.
Lauren Kwan, vice president of marketing at Plus AI, said the thieves appeared to have been misled by the branding into thinking the trailers held very valuable equipment.
Plus AI is developing self-driving truck systems using Nvidia's automotive computing platform. The two companies have a partnership covering autonomous trucking technology and AI software development.
The thieves ultimately fled, leaving the trailers by the roadside. Both trailers were returned to Plus AI along with the sand inside, and the trailers themselves were reported to have suffered no major damage.
Fremont police are analyzing closed-circuit television footage from around the facility where the trailers had been stored to trace the suspects' movements and identities. No arrests have been reported so far.
