Women of Vision: Torc’s Veteran Community
Our Torc community is built on doing the right thing for our communities, our families, and our world at large. Whether we’re working on our technology or speaking to our freight partners, our foundation remains the same: we exist to create a better tomorrow.
Creating that better tomorrow requires vision, purpose, and planning. As we pursue our goal of creating a faster, more efficient supply chain, we look to people like our Torc veterans. Their visionary ability to assess a situation, create an action plan, and execute it quickly and safely is unmeasured – especially when it comes to these two Torc’rs: Andrea Colley and Melissa Ugalde.
From Air Force to Autonomy: Andrea Colley
Andrea Colley, Autonomous Vehicle Safety Officer with Fleet Safety at Torc Robotics, enlisted in the United States Air Force as an Air Traffic Controller at 22 years old, from 1985 to 1990. From navigating busy runways to directing international and domestic traffic, Andrea earned her Air Force wings in countless complex scenarios.
“I saw some beautiful countries and met some incredible people,” Andrea says about her time in the Air Force. “We hosted these exercises called Cope Thunder with militaries around the world: Israel, Singapore, the Philippines, The United Kingdom, and Australia all brought their jets in – which, as an Air Traffic Controller, creates a lot of unique harrowing experiences and situations.”
While Andrea initially started her military journey at the Clark Airbase in the Philippines, she finished out her career at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.
“[My time in the Air Force] really tested my fortitude and my ability to sequence and control multiple aircraft with different flight characteristics and capabilities,” she added. “While being an Air Traffic Controller seems like it’s just making sure take-off and landing go smoothly, you also have to communicate a ton of information quickly and efficiently in high stakes situations.”
At Torc, Andera’s Air Traffic Controller skills have been invaluable. As part of the Fleet Test and Safety team, her job includes managing the departure and return trips of our autonomous trucking fleet. Whether our test trucks are operating with an In-Vehicle Fallback Safety Driver behind the self-driving wheel or carrying out our validation tests, Andrea is a key part of ensuring our driverless semi-trucks can carry out their middle-mile goals.
She’s also an integral part of making sure our tactics surrounding hub operation are safe, efficient, and secure for our freight partners and customers:
“[In the Air Force] We fortunately had 100 years of aviation history to fall back on and help us develop our policies and procedures and safety culture and the way we go about doing things,” Andrea noted. “At Torc, we’re developing that methodology for driverless trucks. We must proceed with caution, which is what you have to do when you are flying. It doesn’t matter if you’re in aviation or trucking, the approach is the same. If you’re working on a mission, you have to know your equipment is reliable so you can actually focus on the mission at hand.”
Torc recently completed a successful product validation drive wherein our automated truck drove autonomously on a closed course without a single instance of human intervention. Bolstered by artificial intelligence algorithms for self-driving and talented professionals like Andera, our technology is currently proving its reliability and safety via rigorous advanced engineering and testing.
From the Marines to Marketing: Melissa Ugalde
Melissa Ugalde, public relations intern with Marketing and Communications at Torc Robotics, enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as a public affairs specialist and videographer at 18 years old. From recording recruiting content to assisting with executive speeches, Melissa produced incredible results for the Marine community across multiple verticals. Over the course of the four years she spent at Camp Pendleton, respectively, Melissa rose through the ranks to earn the title of corporal.
“I joined to serve my country,” Melissa said, “I was never a good student, had a 2.1 grade point average, the military and my country was the only thing that I found passion in. The pride of belonging to such an elite organization, the discipline, and of course, the uniform,” Melissa added with a grin. “My paternal grandfather came here in the 1960s from Spain, and I think that his love for this country manifested in my father through his law enforcement career, and it ended up with me enlisting in the military.”
“I was lucky enough and grew up in a very well-off family in northern New Jersey, I wanted for nothing,” Ugalde said. “I had to grow up quickly, and the Marine Corps offered me that, and allowed me the opportunity to meet people from all over the country. It allowed me to see perspectives I hadn’t previously been open to hearing. Now I’m 25 years old, have already purchased and sold my first home, have become mother and a wife, and I am going to college on the GI Bill; the Marine Corps set me up better than I could’ve straight out of high school.”
At Torc, Melissa contributes to the marketing team by conducting competitor research, connecting with first responders, and more. She credits her ability to build relationships with customers, regulators, and her fellow Torc community to her Marine history. Alongside Torc’s marketing and communications team, Melissa helps drive the future of freight.
“I got to tell the story of the Marine Corps to the public,” Melissa said. “I became very passionate about becoming a part of history and that carries over in my work at Torc. It’s fascinating to see how things run from a strict military public affairs side of things to a civilian company side of things. It’s been a huge adjustment not having to say ‘good morning ma’am’ to every single person that walks past.”
Veterans like Melissa and Andrea help us look at the self-driving challenge from multiple angles. From providing insights on how departure clearance might operate to working with first responders on how roadside stops could operate, our veterans help us ideate and execute the policies and procedures surrounding our robotic truck technology.
