When the latest Silicon Valley company involved in self-driving-truck technology sent a big rig on a successful 120-mile autonomous drive earlier this month, there were no conspicuous sensors affixed to the nondescript vehicle, no police escorts guiding the way, and no grand pronouncements following the journey. There were a half-dozen employees on hand, a few thousand pounds of freight in the rear, and miles of open Florida Turnpike ahead.
?It wasn?t some cool marketing stunt,? says Stefan Seltz-Axmacher, taking a not-so-subtle dig at its high-profile competitor Otto, which produced that highly publicized, highly orchestrated delivery of beer in October. Until now, he has been content to keep his own autonomous-trucking effort, Starsky Robotics, out of the spotlight and under wraps. Seltz-Axmacher founded the company in September 2015, but he hasn?t publicly said much about its intentions. That changed this week, when he discussed at length his plans to develop self-driving trucks that handle long-haul rides between distribution centers and help curb the death toll associated with the industry.

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?Right now, we?re incredibly focused on not being a

science experiment.?

? Stefan Seltz-Axmacher, Starsky Robotics

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Starsky Robotics, based in San Francisco, joins an ever growing number of companies that are trying to bring self-driving trucks to the marketplace. The list includes Peloton and Embark as well as Otto, which Uber acquired for $680 million last August. In t...