autonomous trucking

Carrier relationships vital to deploying autonomous technologies

This fireside chat recap is from FreightWaves’ Enterprise Fleet Summit on Wednesday.

FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Autonomous truck technology’s impact on fleet growth. 

DETAILS: Andrew Culhane, chief strategy officer at Torc, chats with Thomas Wasson, FreightWaves enterprise trucking carrier expert, about how autonomous technology is changing the fleet landscape and about pilot programs with the nation’s largest truckload carriers. Torc is an independent subsidiary of Daimler.

KEY QUOTES FROM ANDREW...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/carrier-relationships-vital-to-deploying-autonomous-technologies

Truck Tech: Who’s on first edition

Autonomous trucking is a far weightier topic than baseball, the subject of the famous “Who’s on first?” Abbott and Costello comedy classic. Determining the positions of truck makers and autonomous software developers might be more watchable than even rule-shortened games in the new MLB season.

Abbott and Costello and their famous comedy bit “Who’s on First?” (Image: YouTube)

Who really drives autonomous truck development?

After three stories and more than 3,000 words on TuSimple this week here, he...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-tech-whos-on-first-edition

TuSimple denies report of push for espionage investigation

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At least one member of a federal watchdog group urged an espionage investigation into the founders...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/tusimple-denies-newspaper-report-of-push-for-espionage-investigation

How soon will we see an autonomous trucking shakeout?

It is pretty much acknowledged across the trucking industry that a consolidation of players in autonomous trucking is coming. Money is tight. Borrowing is expensive. Share prices and corresponding book values are in the dumper. 

The coming shakeout

No single factor proves a shakeout among autonomous trucking players is coming. But an accumulation of evidence suggests that not all of today’s entrants will survive as independents.

PitchBook writes of mobility tech in its 2023 Industry and Technology...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/how-soon-will-we-see-an-autonomous-trucking-shakeout

As layoffs loom, TuSimple CEO protected by $15M in severance cash

With layoffs of potentially hundreds of employees looming, autonomous trucking startup TuSimple agreed to pay CEO Cheng Lu $15 million in cash if it ousts him a second time.

The terms of the agreement are spelled out in an 8-K filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The optics of such a payment compared to whatever severance is paid to laid-off employees are ugly. But having been burned once, Lu assured that shortening his second stay would be expensive to the company.

“It is...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/as-layoffs-loom-tusimple-ceo-protected-by-15m-in-severance-cash

Outrider puts the (robotic) arm to autonomous yard trucks

Disconnecting brake and electric lines from yard tractors and connecting them to semi-trailer and chassis happens 6 billion times annually in 10 million tractor-trailers around the world.

To move these trailers, truck drivers manually connect pressurized brake lines to trailers. That releases the parking brake, allowing trailers to move around the yard. Getting in and out of yard trucks that transition trailers from dock doors to parking spots to public roads is constant.

There’s a robot for that

N...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/outrider-puts-the-robotic-arm-to-autonomous-yard-trucks

Plus highly automated driving solution draws rave reviews at ATA 2022 MCE

Truck drivers, industry executives and fleet owners responded with enthusiasm to the PlusDrive highly automated driving solution on display during last week’s American Trucking Associations 2022 Management Conference & Exhibition (MCE), where self-driving tech company Plus offered ride-and-drives showcasing its path-breaking commercially available product.

“The experience was like no other,” said a long-haul truck driver, mentor and trainer with 28 years of experience. He was hesitant at first...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/plus-highly-automated-driving-solution-draws-rave-reviews-at-ata

On the road with PlusDrive: Lessons from mass deployment of a highly automated driving trucking solution

Autonomous trucking technology companies share the belief that driverless big rigs will help alleviate many of the industry’s biggest problems, from driver shortages and turnover rates to rising insurance, fuel and labor costs.   

Where competitors diverge is in their commercialization strategies. Most startups and OEMs are holding off on delivering an automated trucking solution until the technology is safe enough to operate in full driverless mode – that is, without a human driver behind the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/on-the-road-with-plusdrive-lessons-from-mass-deployment

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