Driverless trucks make their way onto Texas roads

A gigantic 18-wheeler travels down a multi-lane highway in Texas with no one behind the wheel.

The futuristic idea may sound surreal, but it’s being tested in that vast southern state of U.S which has become the epicenter of the autonomous vehicle industry.

However, before driverless trucks are allowed on roads and highways, multiple tests still need to be done to ensure safety.

Autonomous trucks work with radars, laser scanners, cameras and GPS antennas that communicate with the piloting software.

“Every time we drive a mile or a kilometer in real life, we simulate it a thousand more times in the computer by changing hundreds of parameters,” explains Pierre-François Le Faou, one of the development managers at Waymo, the driving company. autonomous driving of the Alphabet group, the parent company of Google.

Waymo is not alone. Embark, a self-driving technology startup, operates a truck lane between Houston and San Antonio, while Aurora will open three terminals and a new 1,000-kilometer route in Texas this year.

In a show of how competitive the autonomous transport industry is, none of the three companies agreed to show AFP even one of their vehicles.

friendly legislation

“I think everyone in the autonomous truck business is in Texas,” says Srikanth Saripalli, director of the Center for Autonomous Vehicles and Sensor Systems at Texas A&M University.

It is no accident that companies choose Texas. That state has the largest number of truckers and many qualified engineers, its sunny climate is optimal for truck sensors, and neighboring Mexico exports 85% of its products to Texas by road.

Houston and Dallas are the main hubs, and the expanse of Texas is ideal for long-distance transportation. But, above all, local legislation is favorable to driverless vehicles.

Texas passed a law in 2018 that essentially gives autonomous vehicles the same status as conventional ones.

“Insurance and following traffic rules are required, but other than that, Texas doesn’t enforce any other regulations,” says Saripalli.

Given the vastness of the United States territory and with trucking a vital part of its economy, companies see autonomous driving as a way to reduce costs and risks, since, unlike human drivers, autonomous vehicles they do not tire or require mandatory breaks.

While it would take a person three days to drive a truck from Los Angeles to Dallas, a large self-driving truck can complete the trip in 24 hours, Aurora estimates.

And the trip would be almost twice as cheap. The cost per mile would drop from $1.76 to $0.96 if the truck drives itself, according to Embark.

Jobs at risk

Alex Rodrigues, CEO and co-founder of Embark Technology, insists that autonomous trucks will be crucial to combating the current shortage of long-distance truck drivers in the United States. Many of them are unwilling to be away from their families for weeks at a time. “Right now, there are containers stranded in the Port of Los Angeles,” he says.

Rodrigues promises that the autonomous trucking industry will create “attractive” jobs for local drivers, who will pick up the autonomous trucks at transfer points and drive them to their final destination.

Still, 294,000 trucking jobs would be threatened by industry automation, according to a 2018 study by Steve Viscelli, a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley.

For Julio Moscoso, a 56-year-old driver from Texas, the rise of driverless trucks is “not good news.”

He says that while there are plenty of trucking jobs available these days, that wasn’t always the case. Remember that in the last two years there was a time when “there was not so much work”.

Moscoso says he wouldn’t trust driverless trucks. “It’s dangerous, what happens if a sensor fails?” he asks. At the same time, he admits that he no longer wants to go on long trips and finds it uncomfortable to sleep in the cabin and not be able to shower every day.