Dozens of companies, from truckmakers like Daimler and Navistar to startups like Change and Embark-plus Uber’s Otto and Waymo, the erstwhile Google self-driving project-are pursuing what they believe is the next generation of trucking. Its business opportunity-and trucking is the physical embodiment of a thriving economy. Trucks moved more than 70% of all U.S. freight and generated $676 billion in revenue in 2016, according to the American Trucking Associations.<\/p>\n
Some 33.8 million trucks were registered for business purposes in 2016. Almost 4 million of them were categorized Class 8, denoting the largest freight trucks. Without the trucking industry, the economy would screech to a standstill. The newest trucks on the road, such as those made by Volvo and Freightliner, employ driver assistance technologies similar to the adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping features found in modern passenger cars. The technologies make driving a truck less stressful, safer, and more fuel efficient.<\/p>\n
Starsky Robotics CEO and co-founder Stefan Seltz-Axmacher believe trucking is on the verge of a radical change that hasn’t been seen since the industry was deregulated in 1980. “Autonomous trucks are going to be an even bigger change than that.” Seltz-Axmacher’s company, which is based in San Francisco, uses software, radar, and computer vision cameras to enable long-haul trucks to drive by themselves on the highway, then cede control to a remote operator to travel from exit to final destination.<\/p>\n
In September, a Starsky Robotics truck drove 68 miles on a Florida highway with zero intervention by a human. Meanwhile, Nikola Motor is designing and building its own driverless, hydrogen fuel cell-powered Class 8 truck-“The iPhone of trucking,” says CEO Trevor Milton. So where does that leave a company like Daimler, whose first truck arrived at the market in 1896? In the embrace of the long view.<\/p>\n
Daimler, which sells more than 400,000 trucks globally each year, is treading carefully as it brings technology to its commercial vehicles. Its $180,000 Semi promises up to 500 miles on single charge-four time the range of an electric truck that Daimler is developing.<\/p>\n
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