“You have to be prepared for anything,” said Mr. Jenkins, 64, a former FedEx driver whose job is to deal with problems when they arise. “People are acting weird around the truck.”
The truck, operated by Aurora Innovation, is part of a new class of autonomous big rigs plying highways across the country. Two major companies, Aurora and Kodiak Robotics, are launching fully self-driving trucks in Texas, and by the end of this year, the trucks will be on their own for the first time without human assistance like Jenkins.
The advent of robotic trucks could have a profound impact on the U.S. supply chain, dramatically reducing the time it takes to transport goods from place to place and reducing the trucking industry to the cost of human labor. It has the potential to free people from physical limitations. But the technological advances have raised concerns about highway safety, job losses, a lack of federal regulation and a patchwork of state laws regarding where and how self-driving trucks can operate.
By default, driverless cars and trucks can drive anywhere in the United States unless a state explicitly prohibits it. This means companies will be able to test and operate vehicles in most parts of the country. According to data compiled by Aurora, 24 states, including Texas, Florida, Arizona and Nevada, specifically allow driverless vehicles, while 16 other states have no regulations specific to self-driving cars. The remaining 10 states (including California, Massachusetts, and New York) have restrictions on the use of self-driving cars within their state borders.
Alarmed by the slow pace of federal regulation, labor safety advocates are pushing for legislation in several states to completely ban driverless trucks. So far, those efforts have been unsuccessful. The California Legislature approved a bill last year that would require all self-driving trucks to have a human operator, but Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has already passed state regulations banning self-driving vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds. Taking this into account, he vetoed the proposal, saying it was “unnecessary.”
Transportation experts are frustrated by the slow pace of the federal government's response to the problem, which could disrupt large parts of the U.S. economy.
Steve Viscelli, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania who studies the trucking industry, said self-driving trucking “has the potential to change the geography of the economy in the same way that railroads and shipping changed it.”
“Drivers are really concerned about the impact of this and we need to take it seriously,” Viscelli said.
Driverless cars have caused havoc in cities such as San Francisco, and last year there was a frightening incident when a robotaxi struck a pedestrian walking on an overpass and dragged him about 20 feet. Critics say the potential for catastrophe is even greater with large self-driving trucks.
“Even with these small vehicles, it was a disaster,” said Peter Finn, vice president of Teamsters Local Union 856, which represents truck drivers. “The idea of a big truck hurtling down the highway with no humans in it just terrifies me.”
Currently, Aurora's long-haul trucks transport approximately 100 packages and agricultural products per week for FedEx, Uber Freight, and more. The company, founded in 2017 by former executives from Google's self-driving project Uber and Tesla, trains driverless trucks in Texas. From 2020.
Aurora said it plans to have about 20 fully autonomous trucks operating a 240-mile stretch between Dallas and Houston by the end of this year. The plan is to eventually operate thousands of trucks across the United States.
Kodiak Robotics, founded by former employees of Uber and Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo, plans to launch a fleet of trucks as well. in Texas by the end of the year. A third company, Daimler Trucks, a subsidiary of German-owned Daimler in partnership with Torc Robotics, is several years behind schedule and plans to launch driverless vehicles in the United States by 2027.
Nat Bews, Aurora's chief safety officer, said the self-driving truck industry has adopted strict safety standards, including how trucks respond to various system failures, and is “systematically developing” its technology. ” has been introduced. Buess said the company has learned from the mistakes of other self-driving car companies, such as General Motors' Cruise, which recalled its entire fleet of driverless vehicles after the San Francisco crash.
“The federal government has made it clear that we can deploy unless the state says we can't. But that doesn't mean we don't have a responsibility as a company,” Buess said. “This is not a science experiment.”
Mark Williams, executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation, said Texas has good relationships with companies that conduct testing on its roads.The status is as follows He said it was a “front line” in supporting the industry and was critical to the industry's economic growth as the demand to transport freight within the state increases.
“Meeting that challenge requires successful partnerships and collaborations with the trucking and autonomous trucking industries,” Williams said in a February meeting with Autonomous Vehicle Education Partners, a coalition of industry advocates. said in a panel discussion.
The average driver would have a hard time spotting an Aurora truck with only a small sign on the back that says “AUTONOMOUS TEST VEHICLE.''
But the view from inside the cab is very different. On a recent day in February, two computer screens animated one potential hazard after another, including tire debris dotting the roadside. An impatient SUV or sedan trying to pass you. An SUV that merges without a turn signal.
Vehicle operations specialist Steven Thune sat in the passenger seat, monitoring the screen. He narrated the truck's every movement to Jenkins, telling him that when the turn signal started flashing, the tune was “moving to the right to avoid tire debris.” “Move to the left as a courtesy to the car behind you.”
On this drive, the truck followed all road rules and showed unusual courtesy toward other drivers. But it's the unexpected scenarios, from mistakes by human drivers to sudden mechanical failures, that worry veteran truck drivers like Lewi Pugh.
“We know computers and cell phones make mistakes. Machines have bad days, too,” said the president of the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association, a national organization representing professional truck drivers. Vice Chairman Pugh said.
Texas is a hub for testing self-driving trucks, but companies also have vehicles running in states such as Oklahoma and New Mexico. All three major companies will operate trucks from 2021 onwards According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), companies are involved in several traffic accidents.
Although there were no fatalities or serious injuries, accident records provide insight into the extent of the obstacles faced by the trucks.
In July 2022, a Daimler truck overturned on a highway in New Mexico, puncturing its fuel tank and spilling oil onto the highway. In December 2023, a deer stumbled into the path of a Daimler truck being tested in Texas. The test driver took over, but the truck still hit the deer.
Earlier in the month, a pickup truck attempting to pass an Aurora vehicle hydroplaned and collided with the Aurora's trailer. Aurora detected the pickup but was unable to avoid contact.
Both companies will be trying to find success in an industry facing setbacks. Alphabet Inc.'s self-driving company Waymo announced in July that it would postpone plans for its trucking efforts and instead focus on ride-hailing services. Chinese self-driving truck company TuSimple Holdings ended its U.S. operations in 2023, one year after one of its self-driving trucks crashed during a test.
Still, self-driving trucks will make highways safer, say those working on the technology. According to the latest federal data, 5,788 people died in crashes with large trucks in 2021, representing 13% of all traffic fatalities that year.
Technology is advancing faster than regulations
The federal government has been slow to address the impact of new technology as profit-seeking companies rush to adopt it. The U.S. Department of Transportation generally allows companies to test their products on public roads, as long as they adhere to the same safety standards that apply to traditional human-operated trucks.
Within the Department of Transportation, NHTSA and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration have been working on a proposal for more than five years to create basic “safety guardrails” for self-driving trucks. This also includes requirements for remote assistants to monitor autonomous vehicles, inspections and vehicle maintenance. . The proposed rule, submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget in December, would be the Biden administration's most significant action on self-driving trucking.
Department of Transportation spokesman Sean Manning could not say when the rule would be finalized because it still has to go through several bureaucratic steps. Until then, Manning said current law prohibits any vehicle, including those equipped with automated technology, from “posing an unreasonable risk to safety.” Meanwhile, Manning said NHTSA will “continue to use its defect and oversight authorities to vigorously enforce” any evidence of risk, including investigations and recalls.
Both Aurora and Kodiak support the idea of federal regulation, saying it would give them more certainty about standards as they expand nationwide.
“Having a federal framework gives regulators and the public confidence that the federal government is monitoring this closely,” said Kodiak policy director Daniel Goff.
Richard Gaskill, a Texas truck driver since 1988, said he sometimes spots self-driving test vehicles while hauling cargo along Interstate 45.
“It's so new I can't believe it,” Gaskill, 50, said of the technology. “I don't like the idea of them taking our jobs.”
Gaskill's concerns are shared by labor unions and industry groups such as the Teamsters. However, research released in 2021 by the Department for Transport suggests that concerns about widespread job losses may be misplaced. Self-driving trucking could lead to up to 11,000 layoffs over the next five years, accounting for less than 2% of the long-haul driver workforce.
Meanwhile, the study notes that the technology could create new job opportunities for maintenance technicians, dispatchers and refuelers, while also helping alleviate the drudgery associated with long-haul truck drivers. are doing. Self-driving truck companies also claim their technology can transport goods across the country faster because robot trucks can drive for longer periods of time than human drivers.
Gaskill doesn't buy it. He says he doesn't understand how a robot can navigate the country's chaotic highways better than he can. But as companies like Aurora expand, he's resigned to the fact that self-driving trucks are part of the future.
“It's just a matter of time,” he said.
