Self-driving trucks appear to be riding in the fast lane on the road toward an autonomous era of travel.
In a single week, Uber revealed that it has been testing automated trucks on Arizona highways since November, culminating in a 344-mile autonomous journey conducted under the supervision of a human safety driver. Not to be outdone, upstart Starsky Robotics announced that it had completed a seven-mile automated trip in Florida without any humans onboard. The next day, Waymo unveiled a new pilot project involving self-driving trucks that will be based in Atlanta.
An unspecified number of trucks will begin carrying cargo bound for Google?s data centers. The project will focus on expanding the company?s imprint in logistics as much as training the self-driving systems. ?Atlanta is one of the biggest logistics hubs in the country, making it a natural home for Google?s logistical operations and the perfect environment for our next phase of testing Waymo?s self-driving trucks,? company officials wrote. ?This pilot, in partnership with Google?s logistics team, will let us further develop our technology and integrate it into the operations of shippers and carriers, with their network of factories, distribution centers, ports, and terminals..?
Although adjustments are required to allow for the braking distances, blind spots, and turning radius of big rigs, company officials say the underlying technology is the same as what has been honed in more than five-million miles of public...