Robot Driving Tractor Trailers Hit the Public Highways

Axios (6/26, Muller, 521K) reports that “at least a half dozen truck companies are working” on “automated freight delivery,” with “tests in various stages of development.” Starsky Robotics’ Florida “demonstration was believed to be the first unmanned, high-speed test of a heavy-duty commercial truck on a public highway.” Starsky “says it’s taking a more practical approach that combines highway automation with teleoperation, allowing remote drivers to navigate trucks between distribution centers and the highway.” During its Florida demonstration a Starsky truck “navigated a rest area near Orlando,” with “the remote driver sitting behind 3 computer screens in an office 2 hours away in Jacksonville,” For now, Starsky Robotics trucks will be “accompanied by chase vehicles in case something goes wrong and a human driver needs to jump into the cab to steer a stopped truck off the highway,” which shows “automated trucking is getting closer, but the instincts and knowledge of human drivers are still needed.”

        Forbes (6/26, Ohnsman, 9.71M) reports Starsky Robotics “began testing its automated and remotely operated semi-trucks with no human safety driver this month on a stretch of Florida highway.” The company “said it’s the first company to test an unmanned 18-wheeler on a stretch of U.S. highway–and doing so by combining an onboard self-driving system with a remote operator standing by to guide the vehicle when necessary.” CEO and Founder Stefan Seltz-Axmacher said, “This is literally the first time anyone has taken the person out of the vehicle on a public highway.”