We May Soon Have Self-Driving Trucks on US Highways

We have heard about self-driving cars by Google. Now Otto, a startup, is the new company which is currently engaged in working on automated or self-driving trucks.

Otto's team of engineers come from various areas of expertise. They are from Google's self-driving team, Apple, Tesla, and Cruise Automations, which may mean that the team has experience on several grounds. These engineers aim to modify the old conventional truck to something new that is automated with its driving technology, partially.

This could be a start to commercializing the automated driving technology as the number of trucks that run on the highways are numerous. Open highways also have less sophisticated traffic, so it does the truck drivers some good as they spend a lot of time driving the trucks on open highways - often in a straight, monotonous line.

Moreover, the new technology may help the trucks to drive themselves in the complex traffic grid of the city where a human eye needs to watch out for every turn. This can also be good news for trucking companies, and may add up to large amounts to their savings pocket.

"The removal of truckers from freeways will have an effect on today's towns similar to the effects the freeways themselves had on towns decades ago that had sprung up around bypassed stretches of early highways," wrote Scott Santens, an independent researcher, in a blog post last year.

Otto isn't the only company or startup working on automated trucks. Volvo and Daimler along with other startups such as Peloton Tech are exploring and testing automated trucking systems too. However, a driver has to be present in the truck to take manual control when the need arises in the case of unexpected emergencies in cities or on highways. This may mean that automated driving may occur for a much lesser time than manual driving. Also, regulators need to be convinced to allow a giant of a truck to take control of itself.