Autonomous Trucks
Waymo, Google’s autonomous driving sister company, has announced that it will no longer conduct driverless truck tests in Texas. Currently, Aurora and Kodiak Robotics are the only companies operating driverless trucks on the Dallas-Houston route. Waymo’s decision to shift its focus from driverless trucks to ride-hailing is driven by the significant growth of its autonomous rideshare app, Waymo One, and the increasing demand from riders in its pilot markets of Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Cruise, a California-based self-driving technology company backed by General Motors, Honda, Microsoft, T. Rowe Price, and Walmart, is currently conducting tests with autonomous ride-hailing vehicles in Dallas. Aurora currently operates autonomous trucks with a safety driver along freight corridors in Texas but plans to deploy completely driverless trucks on the Dallas-Houston route by the end of 2024.