PITTSBURGH (AP) — On a three-lane test track along the Monongahela River, an 18-wheeler tractor-trailer rounded a turn. There was no one on the ship.
A quarter mile ahead, the truck’s sensors detected a trash can blocking one lane and a tire in the other. In less than a second, he gave the signal, moved into the barrier-free lane and crossed the barriers.
The self-driving semi, equipped with 25 laser, radar and camera sensors, is owned by Pittsburgh-based Aurora Innovation. Later this year, Aurora plans to begin moving freight on Interstate 45 between the Dallas and Houston areas with 20 driverless trucks.
Within three or four years, Aurora and its competitors hope to put thousands of such self-driving trucks on America’s public freeways. The goal is for trucks to be able to run almost around the clock without interruption, to speed up the flow of goods, speed up delivery times and perhaps reduce costs. They will also travel short distances on secondary roads.
Companies say autonomous trucks will also save fuel because they won’t have to stop and will drive at a more steady speed. Additionally, Aurora says its testing has shown that if a maintenance issue arises while one of its trucks is traveling on a freeway, the vehicle will automatically park at the roadside and call for assistance remotely. Will call.
The image of a fully loaded, 80,000-pound driverless truck, zipping around cars on a super-highway at speeds of 65 mph or more, might evoke terror. A survey conducted in January by AAA found that a decisive majority of American drivers – 66% – said they would be afraid to ride in an autonomous vehicle.
But in less than nine months, Aurora’s seven-year science experiment will end, and driverless trucks will begin moving loads between terminals from FedEx, Uber Freight, Werner and other partners. Aurora and most of its rivals plan to launch freight routes in Texas, where snow and ice are generally rare.
For years, it seemed as if the initial venture for autonomous vehicles would be ride-hailing in big cities. But General Motors’ cruise robotaxi unit Struggling after a serious accident. And Alphabet’s Waymo is facing opposition to expanding its autonomous ride-hailing service in California. The result is that self-driving trucks are poised to become the first computer-controlled vehicles to be deployed in widespread numbers on public roads.
The vehicles have drawn skepticism from safety advocates, who warn that with almost no federal regulation, it will be largely up to companies to determine when semis will be safe enough to operate without humans. Are. Critics complain that federal agencies, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, take a generally passive approach to safety, usually taking action only after accidents occur. And most states provide little regulation.
But Aurora and other companies developing the system argue that years of testing show their trucks will actually be safer than human-driven trucks. He noted that the vehicles’ laser and radar sensors can “see” much farther than the human eye. Trucks never get tired, as do human drivers. They are never disoriented or weakened by alcohol or drugs.
“We want to be there with thousands or tens of thousands of trucks on the road,” he said Chris Urmson, CEO of Aurora and former head of Google’s autonomous vehicle operations. “And to do that, we have to stay safe. That’s the only way the public will accept it. “Frankly, it’s the only way our customers will accept it.”
Carnegie Mellon University professor Phil Koopman, who studies vehicle automation safety, said he agrees that self-driving trucks could theoretically be safer than human-driven trucks — for the same reason that they involve drivers. There is a lack of information that can lead to distraction or incompetence. But he cautioned that vehicles’ computers will inevitably make errors. And how trucks fare in real-world conditions will depend on the quality of their safety engineering.
Koopman said that with billions of dollars of investment at stake, he wonders how companies will balance security decisions against cost concerns.
“Everything I see tells me they’re trying to do the right thing,” he said. “But the devil is in the details.”
At the test track, journalists watched Aurora’s semi avoid simulation of road obstacles including pedestrians, blown tires, even a horse. But in a controlled environment the trucks were traveling at only 35 mph (56 kph) and nothing unexpected happened. (The trucks are being tested at speeds of 65 mph (105 kph) or more with human safety drivers on Texas freeways.)
On the track, trucks saw obstacles more than a quarter mile away and took immediate action to avoid them. Urmson said the trucks’ laser sensors can detect people driving on the highway at night at distances far greater than the distance of headlights.
Since 2021, Aurora trucks have driven more than 1 million miles of freight autonomously on public highways – but with human safety drivers in the cab. There have been only three crashes, Urmson said, all of them caused by errors by human drivers in other vehicles.
The accidents were minor, with no injuries. And in each case, the company said, the Aurora truck was able to pull over to the side of the road safely.
A federal database dating back to June 2021 shows at least 13 crashes with other vehicles involving autonomous semis, three of which involved the Aurora. In all cases, the accidents were caused by other vehicles changing lanes or rear-ending the trucks. Sometimes, human safety drivers take over just before an accident.
Aurora will not compromise safety, Urmson said, even if ensuring it could delay the timetable for achieving profits.
“If we drive a vehicle on the road that is not adequately safe – one that we are not sure is safe – it trumps everything else,” he said.
Last month, when Urmson demonstrated trucks to Wall Street analysts in Pittsburgh, he said the publicly held company expected to turn a profit by late 2027 or early 2028. To meet that goal, Aurora will have to succeed in getting thousands of trucks on the road, moving freight from terminal to terminal and charging customers a per-mile fee.
The company’s competitors – Plus.AI, Gatik, Kodiak Robotics and others – are also planning to soon put driverless trucks on the road to haul freight to customers. Gatik hopes that will happen this year or next year; Others have not set a timetable.
Kodiak CEO Don Burnett said freeways are a better environment for autonomous vehicles than congested cities, where ride-hailing robotaxis are operating. There are fewer pedestrians, and fewer unexpected things happen. Nevertheless, higher speeds and longer braking distances are present.
In testing on highways with human backup drivers, the Kodiaq has never experienced a crash in which its trucks were at fault, Burnett said.
“At the end of the day,” Burnett said, “these trucks should be safer than human drivers.”
Almost every year in the United States, a tractor-trailer becomes stuck in stopped traffic due to road construction, often resulting in deaths and injuries. In contrast, Burnett said, autonomous trucks pay attention at all times and always have a 360-degree view.
Maybe so. But at Buc-ee’s mega convenience store and gas station along Interstate 45, about 35 miles south of Dallas, the prospect of a driverless Semi created an atmosphere of fear.
“It feels like a disaster waiting to happen,” said Kent Franz, a high school basketball coach in Chandler, Oklahoma, who was traveling to Houston for a wedding. “I’ve heard about driverless cars – Tesla, what have you – and the accidents that happen with them. Eighteen wheelers? Anything heavy that relies on technology that has proven to be flawed? “It doesn’t seem very comfortable to me.”
Patty Pierce, a retired accountant from Plano, Texas, said she’ll be fine with the technology in about a decade.
“I don’t want to live on the street with them right now,” she said. “I like gadgets in my car, but I’m not sure the technology is good enough yet for a truck to drive itself.”
Carnegie Mellon’s Koopman said no federal regulations specifically cover autonomous vehicles. There are no such rules in most states. Koopman said the autonomous-vehicle industry has persuaded several states to stop local governments from making such rules. The result, he said, is that the public should trust the companies that are deploying autonomous semis.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, both part of the federal Transportation Department, do not have the authority to block autonomous vehicles from the roads. However, if something goes wrong, they could be ordered to recall the trucks or take them out of service.
“You can’t expect the government here to protect you,” Koopman said. “The companies will make decisions when they feel they are safe, and the only thing the regulator will do is evaluate them after the fact.”
For the past five years, the Motor Carrier Administration has been drafting safety standards for trucks with automated driving systems. These standards will govern inspection, maintenance and remote monitoring of trucks. But it is unclear when rules will emerge from the regulatory process.
Meanwhile, autonomous semi companies say they can help address the shortage of truck drivers, with the industry estimating a shortfall of 64,000 drivers. Yet there are also concerns that autonomous trucks will eventually replace human drivers and destroy their livelihoods.
The Teamsters union, which represents about 600,000 drivers, most of them truckers, is pressuring state legislatures to require human drivers to monitor self-driving systems, arguing they are unsafe. A 2021 Department of Transportation study concluded that nationwide use of fully automated semis was years away, allowing time for drivers to transition into other transportation and logistics jobs that would be created.
Aurora’s Urmson said he believes driverless Semis will complement the work already done by human drivers, as many more goods will need to be transported for a growing population.
“If you’re driving a truck today,” he said, “my hope is that you’ll be able to retire from driving a truck.”
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AP Business Writer David Koenig from Dallas and AP Data Journalist Aaron Kessler from Washington contributed to this report.
