Just a few years after graduating from Gering High School and studying software engineering at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Jacob Hansen set out to solve one of agriculture’s growing challenges: labor shortages in cattle feedlots.
Today, Hansen and the team at ALA Engineering are developing autonomous feed trucks built specifically for the cattle industry, combining cameras, sensors and software to help feedyards operate more efficiently around the clock.
Originally, Hansen imagined a future working on robotaxis in places like Austin or Silicon Valley. But after learning more about agriculture’s labor and efficiency challenges, he realized autonomy could make a major impact much closer to home.
“I didn’t know that all of these needs existed in agriculture,” Hansen said. “Once I realized how many areas autonomy could actually help in ag, everything changed.”
Founded in 2019 alongside co-founders Austin and Vince Aulick, ALA Engineering began with one goal: build autonomous feed trucks. Over time, the company realized the technology had broader off-highway applications as well.
Inside the company’s shop, software engineers work alongside welders and mechanics building trucks from the ground up. Each vehicle is packed with technology, including 12 cameras, thermal imaging systems, radar, lidar and multiple GPS units designed to keep the trucks operating safely in harsh feedlot environments.
After years of field testing, the company is now preparing its first production truck, with commercial deployment expected in Nebraska next year.
According to Hansen, the ideal operations for the current trucks are feedlots between 20,000 and 60,000 head. The trucks are designed to integrate into existing workflows with minimal infrastructure changes.
“There’s no infrastructure we need to add,” Hansen said. “We can fit right into how drivers already operate.”
Hansen believes agriculture is one of the best industries for autonomy today because the technology can solve real labor and operational challenges while improving efficiency and safety.
For him, building the company in Nebraska was always part of the vision.
“We want to build this where it’s actually going to be deployed,” he said.
What started as a college idea has quickly become one of Nebraska’s most ambitious ag-tech startups — bringing autonomous technology directly into the cattle industry and proving innovation can happen right here in the Midwest.
Building Nebraska is proudly powered by the Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.