Autonomous technologies are advancing rapidly, and traditional equipment manufacturers as well as new players entering the market are working to bring new capabilities to equipment that could improve safety and productivity. Most of the major Class 8 manufacturers, including Paccar, Daimler and Volvo, as well as newer companies, such as Waymo and Otto, are testing autonomous technology that could be used to create self-driving vehicles.
“This technology is moving much faster than any of us anticipated. There is no doubt,” said Bob Costello, chief economist at American Trucking Associations and a keynote speaker at The 黑料社区Show 2017.
(Want more on this topic? 黑料社区has planned a keynote on the future of autonomous and
electrical trucks during . 黑料社区Connect 2018 will be held February 10-13 in Nashville, Tennessee. American Trucking Associations’ Chairman and President of TCW Inc. Dave Manning, 黑料社区CEO and President Lisa Mullings and Dean Newell, VP, Safety and Training, Maverick Transportation, LLC will discuss how quickly these trucks will arrive and the possible impacts on the trucking and truckstop industries. For more information on the conference and the keynote, visit or contact Amy Toner at (703) 739-8570.)
Who is Making What?
Earlier this year, Elon Musk said Tesla Inc. was making progress on its semi, and the company has met with agencies in California and Nevada about testing an autonomous semi-truck. The California Department of Motor Vehicles met with Tesla in August, and the department is working with the California Highway Patrol to create regulations that would cover testing of vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds. Tesla also met with the Nevada DMV, but the company hadn’t filed an autonomous testing application at press time.
Waymo, which was formerly known as Google’s autonomous car venture, has installed its self-driving technology on a single Class 8 Peterbilt truck that it is testing at a private track in California. The company plans to conduct road tests in Arizona later in the year.
In October 2016, Otto, the Uber-owned self-driving vehicle operation, completed its first commercial delivery with a truck traveling 120-miles roundtrip. Otto demonstrated a system that converts a standard truck into a Level 4 autonomous truck, which allows a driver to be away from the steering wheel in certain driving conditions. In the beer delivery, the driver monitored portions of the delivery from the sleeper berth.
Otto’s mission is to build trucks that could essentially drive 24/7 by allowing drivers to take naps during long trips. Otto cofounder Lior Ron has said the trucks would be more efficient because they wouldn’t waste fuel by accelerating and braking as frequently.
Where Does the Federal Government Stand?
Even the U.S. government is supporting autonomous technologies, with the U.S. Department of Transportation committing nearly $4 billion over 10 years to autonomous vehicle research in 2016. The agency said the investment would accelerate the development and adoption of safe vehicle automation through real-world pilot projects.
And What About the Driver?
The American Transportation Research Institute has identified significant safety and productivity benefits that may result from autonomous technology adoption, but those within the industry said it is likely that drivers will remain a critical link in the supply chain for quite some time. Drivers play a critical role for carriers, such as interacting with customers on both pick-ups and deliveries. Plus, for safety reasons the public may insist that automated vehicles may have a driver present to take over in any unexpected or difficult situations.
“The driver is still the most important safety feature of the truck. These systems assist the driver in making better decisions while providing earlier warnings and helping take evasive action,” said Kerry Stritt, vice president of fleet services for Southeastern Freight Lines, based in Lexington, South Carolina. “Safe professional drivers are the lifeblood of the trucking industry and this will continue into the foreseeable future.”
Costello agrees. “I can’t imagine at this point the federal government would say go ahead and take the driver out of the driver’s seat,” he said during his presentation at The 黑料社区Show 2017. “I equate it to the airline industry. If one of the pilots has to go to the restroom, there always has to be another pilot in the cockpit.”
Drivers would be needed to react if something goes wrong, but Costello said autonomous technology can make drivers’ lives easier. Royal Jones, owner of Mesilla Valley Trucking, based in Las Cruces, New Mexico, said he believes drivers will remain a crucial element of trucking, but hopes autopilot technology could increase utilization by letting the driver rest while the computer drives.
The American Transportation Research Institute has said autonomous trucks could help alleviate the driver shortage by both attracting drivers and improving efficiency. “L3 automation may relieve some of the stress and monotony of driving long hours, and L4 could allow drivers to work on tasks such as logistics while the vehicle is moving,” ATRI said. ATRI said the technology could also create gains in productivity and decrease the number of trucks and drivers needed to move the nation’s freight, “which could act to mitigate the driver shortage problem.”
Chris Spear, president of ATA, said ATRI’s research underscores how critical it is that the trucking industry has a seat at the table as autonomous vehicle issues are debated. “These impacts will be real and have significant consequences for the entire supply chain if they are not deliberately and thoughtfully approached with input from all stakeholders,” he said.
What Does it Mean for Hours-of-Service?
“You’re asking the human who decides to be a truck driver, to leave their family 24 hours a day but only work eight hours a day and get paid. Under hours-of-service regulations you’re allowed 11 hours of driving time, but you never get 11. If the computer could eat all of those hours and let the driver have more time, look at the productivity you’ll gain,” Jones said.
ATRI said that as autonomous technologies develop, guidance on how current HOS regulations relate to autonomous driving is needed. “It could be argued that under current HOS regulations an L4 autonomous system is considered a ‘team driver.’ This designation could allow the human driver to take eight consecutive hours in the sleeper berth while the vehicle is moving in an automated mode, and two additional hours either off-duty or in the sleeper berth,” ATRI said in a report on autonomous trucking. “If eight consecutive hours in the sleeper berth is achievable on a given route, far less time would be required at a truckstop or rest area between 14-hour periods.”
ATRI added that ability to rest while driving in the L4 environment could enable drivers to be at home more often rather than parked at distant locations.
What Does it Mean for Truckstops and Travel Plazas?
Darren Schulte, vice president of membership for NATSO, said autonomous technologies could change the types of services and products truck drivers seek out at truckstops and travel plazas, but they could create opportunities as well.
“Self-driving technology could change how the driver entertains him or herself while they are moving down the road. We may eventually see drivers who are eating spaghetti and or Pho style soups while driving safely,” he said.
Stritt said he believes boredom may be one of the biggest challenges the drivers face. “Looking out a windshield with very little to do for 600 miles a day may become very monotonous. It will be very safe but very boring,” he said. “However, who knows what additional duties can be added to improve driver productivity and job satisfaction.”
THE FIVE LEVELS OF AUTOMATION
0 AT SAE LEVEL 0 (L0) NO AUTOMATION: the human driver does everything.
1 AT SAE LEVEL 1 (L1) DRIVER ASSISTANCE: an automated system on the vehicle can sometimes assist the human driver conduct some parts of the driving task.
2 AT SAE LEVEL 2 (L2) PARTIAL AUTOMATION: an automated system on the vehicle can actually conduct some parts of the driving task, while the human continues to monitor the driving environment and performs the rest of the driving task.
3 AT SAE LEVEL 3 (L3) CONDITIONAL AUTOMATION: an automated system can both actually conduct some parts of the driving task and monitor the driving environment in some instances, but the human driver must be ready to take back control when the automated system requests.
4 AT SAE LEVEL 4 (L4) HIGH AUTOMATION: an automated system can conduct the driving task and monitor the driving environment, and the human need not take back control, but the automated system can operate only in certain environments and under certain conditions.
5 AT SAE LEVEL 5 (L5) FULL AUTOMATION: the automated system can perform all driving tasks, under all conditions that a human driver could perform them.
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