Self-driving truck
[5] In February 2024, this list was updated to reflect the exit of Waymo, TuSimple, Embark, and Locomation, as well as the addition of Stack AV.
Only in limited validation runs on test tracks have these autonomous trucking companies performed driverless operations where no human is located in the vehicle anymore.
In December 2024, Kodiak Robotics became the first company to launch commercial driverless operations of autonomous trucks in the United States.
Operating on private lease roads in West Texas, the company provides a driver-as-a-service solution on customer-owned heavy-duty trucks.
[21] In Europe, truck platooning was being considered with the Safe Road Trains for the Environment approach, a project that ended in September 2012.
[36] Partially automated truck platooning systems contain at least SAE level 1 features and provide economic and environmental benefits.
[39] Multi-sensor solutions, such as one manufactured by Continental integrate many pre-calibrated sensors that work synchronously to achieve self-driving features SAE level 4 and above in modern trucks.
[48] The software and hardware components govern a truck's steering, acceleration, braking, and other critical functions, such as obstacle avoidance and collision detection.
However, Karen Levy is on the view that the path to fully autonomous trucking is likely to be a gradual slope due to social, legal, and cultural factors.
[57] In December 2022, Kodiak Robotics won the contract with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to prototype autonomous software that can navigate complex, off-road terrain, diverse operational conditions and GPS-challenged environments.
[61] DIU is leveraging this partnership to build a pipeline between the commercial and military deployment of self-driving vehicle technologies that will reduce the risk to troops in war zones.
[61] In December 2024, Kodiak Robotics became the first company to launch commercial driverless operations of autonomous trucks in the United States.
Operating on private lease roads in West Texas, the company provides a driver-as-a-service solution on customer-owned heavy-duty trucks.
[8][9] In May 2019, TuSimple announced a contract for a two-week pilot delivering mail for the United States Postal Service with plans to run five round trips between Dallas, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona, with two humans on board.
[62] In December 2021, TuSimple completed its first autonomous truck run on open public roads without a person on board, by driving 80 miles between a railyard in Tucson, Arizona and a distribution center in Phoenix.
[63] In October 2022, TuSimple's CEO, Chief Technology Officer, and co-founder, Xiaodi Hou, was fired by the company's board, which cited a "loss in trust and confidence" in Hou's judgment in connection with an alleged sharing of confidential information with a Chinese company, Hydron Inc.[64] The FBI, the SEC, and CFIUS are investigating TuSimple on suspicions of illicit technology transfer to Hydron in China.
[65] In 2023, Gatik is planning on integrating its autonomous box trucks to Pitney Bowes's ecommerce logistics network in Dallas.
[77] In 2022, Torc Robotics opened an engineering office in Austin, Texas,[78] and a Technology and Development Center in Stuttgart, Germany.
[80] In the past, Robotic Research has partnered with the U.S. Army and Navy to create autonomous trucks that are able to work in areas that are not on maps, are not on GPS, and do not have road lining.
[98] In 2022, the European Union worked to develop legislation to legalize the operation of fully self-driving trucks and buses (SAE Level 4).
