Autonomous trucks need people - [Opinion]

Abstract

We All Know how a self-driving vehicle is supposed to act, thanks to companies and startups like Waymo and Uber: These cars and trucks should be outfitted with enough sensors and computing power to put all humans in the passenger seat. • But that rosy vision ignores current laws and practices. For example, while California has approved autonomous-vehicle testing without a safety driver since February 2018, those vehicles must still have a remote operator who can step in to pilot the car in an emergency. It's not sexy, but the big secret of autonomous cars is that there's still a human behind many of them. • Consider commercial vehicles, like semitrailer trucks. Trucking is a relatively high-paying job that's approachable for a diversity of people, and these drivers fear self-driving versions. This fear over massive unemployment is a big part of the discussion around such truck fleets. But that's not the future that's developing. Instead of creating truly autonomous fleets, the industry is looking at remotely operated autonomous vehicles. Companies like autonomous truck company Starsky Robotics and telecom-equipment manufacturer Ericsson are creating a future of semi-autonomous semitrucks. • In December 2018, Starsky filed a plan with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to use remote-controlled trucks for deliveries. A human would remotely drive the truck from a distribution center to the highway. However, once the truck is on the highway, its own sensors and autonomous system would take over.