Autonomous Trucks
A truck isn’t much different than a car, but self-driving technology is already coming in handy on long-haul trucking routes, as a recent cross-country trip showed. It drove itself all the way to Dallas, 950 miles to the east (there was a human safety driver on board the whole time, but not controlling the truck). Last summer, TuSimple announced plans to build a nationwide network of self-driving trucks, complete with digitally-mapped routes, terminals, and a central operations system. If regulation is one looming question around automating freight, another is technological unemployment: what about all the human drivers who’ll be left without jobs when computers take over hauling produce from state to state? They’ve got their work cut out for them; the company is aiming for its trucks to operate without safety drivers on board by the end of 2024.