Autonomous Trucks

The concept for autonomous vehicles has also been applied for commercial uses, like for autonomous or nearly autonomous trucks. As recorded in June 1995 in Popular Science Magazine, self-driving trucks were being developed for combat convoys, whereby only the lead truck would be driven by a human and the following trucks would rely on satellite, an inertial guidance system and ground-speed sensors.^[1] Caterpillar Inc. made early developments in 2013 with the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University to improve efficiency and reduce cost at various mining and construction sites.^[2] Companies such as Suncor Energy, a Canadian energy company, and Rio Tinto Group were among the first to replace human-operated trucks with driverless commercial trucks run by computers.^[3] In April 2016, trucks from major manufacturers including Volvo and the Daimler Company completed a week of autonomous driving across Europe, organized by the Dutch, in an effort to get self-driving trucks on the road. With developments in self-driving trucks progressing, U.S. self-driving truck sales is forecast to reach 60,000 by 2035 according to a report released by IHS Inc. in June 2016.^[4] They are expected to be in circulation in 5–10 years from now.^[5] Uber has also joined the project with "Uber Freight"^[6] which already delivers in Arizona.^[7] Another big player investing in this technology is Google, through its spin-off Waymo which also delivers freights in Atlanta.^[8]

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