Autonomous Trucks
California state legislators are moving closer to a final vote on a bill that would for roughly six years require drivers to be in the cab at all times for development of Society of Automotive Engineers Levels 3, 4 and 5 autonomous trucks. The bill has created a debate centering on whether the Legislature should require drivers to remain in the cab even after autonomous developers and regulators say their heavy AVs are ready to be deployed without drivers in the cab. “The goal of AB 316 is simple,” Democratic Rep. Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, lead sponsor of the bill in the Assembly, told the committee. “Full testing and full deployment of an autonomous vehicle over 10,000 pounds can be permitted to operate on public roads in California. That’s the fundamental business case of autonomous trucking.”But Aguiar-Curry insisted that the bill is not intended to harm the industry.