Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Autonomous Trucks

I read in the news today that Uber-owned startup Otto has developed a self-driving semi-trailer. According to the news story, the self-driving semi-truck last week completed a 120-mile Budweiser beer delivery across Colorado without a driver behind the wheel. In fact, he was hanging out in the sleeper cabin of his tractor.

This video shows the Otto truck driving itself:

Otto self-driving truck

But Otto isn’t the only game in town. A quick internet search reveals that Mercedes has a self-driving truck. Daimler built the first self-driving truck to be licensed to use the public roads in Nevada. And three Wi-Fi-connected Daimler trucks drove convoy-style on a German highway and demonstrated a 7 percent reduction in fuel used.

Audi is developing an autonomous truck. Google was awarded a patent for a self-driving delivery truck.

When self-driving trucks become common (it will happen), what will truckers do? I mean, besides pushing the Start button.

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