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Per WIRED's reporting on September 28, 2026, two trailers bearing the logos of Nvidia and autonomous-trucking startup PlusAI — Nvidia's partner on self-driving truck technology — were stolen from outside PlusAI's facility near Newark and Fremont, California. The thieves broke the trailers' hand locks, hooked them up to their own tractor cabs, and drove off. To anyone who saw the branding, the trailers looked like they were carrying a fortune in GPUs.
What the thieves actually got was far less valuable. Each trailer held roughly 20,000 pounds of sand — about 40,000 pounds, or nearly 20 tons, in total. The sand was simulated ballast, used to test how PlusAI's autonomous trucks handle realistic cargo weight during research and development.
"PlusAI uses simulated loads in its trailers to assist with research and development testing," PlusAI spokesperson Lauren Kwan told WIRED.
The theft was discovered almost by accident: an acquaintance of a PlusAI executive spotted the trailers somewhere they weren't supposed to be and sent a congratulatory message — prompting the executive to realize they were gone and call the police. The trailers were later found abandoned about half a mile away, with all the sand still inside.
The real prize never left the building. The valuable tech — the self-driving truck cabs — stayed safely inside the warehouse; only the trailers parked outside were taken. Fremont police are investigating, and no arrests have been made so far. Nvidia declined to comment.
The bungled heist reflects a bigger trend: theft of AI hardware shipments is rising. Verisk CargoNet estimates that cargo thieves stole about $304.6 million in goods in the second quarter of 2026 — more than double the same period in 2025 — as expensive enterprise hardware and GPUs became prime targets.
The takeaway: AI chips are so valuable now that thieves will steal entire trailers just for the logo on the side. This time, they walked away with nothing but a beach.
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