GREENSBORO, N.C. — Soon, the 18-wheeler in the next lane might not have anyone behind the wheel. Volvo Group, a truck manufacturer headquartered in Greensboro, has plans to roll out over 300 autonomous trucks as soon as 2027. In partnership with Aurora Innovations, Volvo Autonomous Solutions is currently running freight routes in Texas and Oklahoma with safety drivers, operating in the final validation phase before removing the safety driver and becoming fully autonomous. This is part of a larger industry shift, as research firm Fortune Business Insights predicts the autonomous truck market will more than double by 2030, reaching over $107 billion. The change has raised questions about safety and job stability, prompting lawmakers to write the first national safety framework for autonomous trucks in the Build America 250 Act. Under the bill, companies would have to prove their trucks are as safe as a human driver, mandate crash reporting, require cybersecurity policies to prevent hacking, and would also limit how many trucks one person can monitor at a time. Workforce grants would also be available to train drivers and technicians to work on the new technology. John Payne, a driving instructor at CL Driving School, worries if technology can cope with situations that even skilled drivers find difficult. He also has concerns about jobs in the industry. “Black ice is probably the hardest thing, even for a truck driver. It looks like water on the ground, but yet it’s frozen. So how can an autonomous vehicle pick up on black ice on a highway?” Payne said. Sasko Cuklev, head of On-Road Solutions at Volvo Autonomous Group, assures safety is manufactured into the trucks from the start. “This is a truck that is specifically built for autonomous, and not a truck where you bolt on or add on a secondary