When will driverless 18-wheelers hit North Texas highways?
The 18-wheelers equipped with autonomous technology are already on North Texas highways, but soon, Volvo Autonomous Solutions says its trucks will be fully driverless.
"This truck is fully equipped with all the sensors, the computer, everything you need for autonomous driving," V.A.S. President Nils Jaeger said.
The company operates its trucks from a facility in Palmer and says the technology could help address driver shortages.
"More than 70% of all goods in the U.S. are transported by truck, but there is a capacity problem when we speak about the labor pool," Jaeger said. "These trucks behind me have no maximum driving hours; they can operate all the time."
For now, there's someone behind the wheel for monitoring purposes, but V.A.S. says it's planning to begin fully driverless operations early next year.
"We're operating here in Texas, and that's also where we will launch next year," Jaeger said. "You have a lot of freight volume in Texas. Then, of course, from the start, the legislation and regulation in Texas has been favorable to autonomous driving."
"The major concerns are how it is being tested? Where is it being tested?" Witherite Law Group Managing Attorney John Nohinek said.
Nohinek represents people injured in commercial truck crashes and says when it comes to autonomous trucking, questions remain about how these trucks respond to unexpected hazards.
"Everyone that drives through DFW, especially down I-20 and I-30, knows that there are barriers, lane changes, lane closures, no shoulders," he said. "How will they react?"
V.A.S. partnered with Aurora Innovation to develop and manufacture autonomous commercial trucks, according to its website.
Aurora says since launching driverless operations last year, as of June of this year, its technology has traveled nearly 440,000 miles without a driver behind the wheel, with zero Aurora Driver-attributed collisions.
"That sounds impressive to anyone, but the truck drivers in America cover more than 190 billion miles a year," Nohinek said.
V.A.S notes the trucks are designed with backup systems for critical functions.
"We approach redundancy of backup systems in the truck, like braking and steering and communication," V.A.S. Chief Product Officer Shahrukh Kazmi said. "That's what makes it safe."
"There are cameras in there, traditional cameras, but also radar and lidar," Aurora President Ossa Fisher said. "That allows us to see 10 football fields in advance, which is 37 seconds faster than your average human."
"They're never tired," Jaeger said. "There's no driver fatigue. No human error."
V.A.S is confident the trucks are road-ready. The company says it plans to expand the fleet to as many as 300 trucks toward the end of next year.
