Canada’s biggest trucking company aims to roll out autonomous big-rigs in the United States next year, with testing slated to start within months. TFI International Inc. TFII-T is working on the project with a partner south of the border in a bid to boost reliability, safety and fuel efficiency, said chief financial officer David Saperstein. “It can drive day and night. There’s no hours of service,” he told analysts on a conference call Tuesday evening. Driverless vehicles steer clear of human factors such as fatigue, illness and poor driving, Saperstein suggested. “It drives the truck way better. There’s no idling,” he said. Acceleration and braking are more measured as well, yielding further fuel savings. He also touted the safety record of the unnamed partner, one of America’s “major providers” of autonomous trucking technology with millions of miles driven across the Southern U.S. Reliability offers a final advantage. “You don’t have to deal with driver turnover and the reality of people not showing up to work,” Saperstein said. The self-driving tractors would haul semi-trailers on fixed, long-distance legs between terminals or distribution centres in parts of the U.S. Though they remain rare, self-driving tractor-trailers are nothing new to the United States. Loaded with food and dairy, autonomous trucks created by Aurora Innovation now ply highways in Texas. Driverless trucks from Kodiak Robotics haul frac sand along leased roads in that state and New Mexico. Canada has been slower to hit the gas on self-driving semis. Waabi Innovation, an artificial intelligence startup launched in Toronto five years ago, ran at least a dozen autonomous trucks between the Dallas and Houston areas for Uber Freight as of last year. But regulations in Canada have delayed their rollout here. ‘No common sense’: Ride in a robotaxi shows the promise – and limits – of