Autonomous
Autonomous technologies now drive significant change in trucking and freight transportation. Transport Topics autonomous coverage provides a comprehensive look at that change. It provides the latest details on deployment concepts such as advanced driver-assist systems, transfer hubs, teleoperations, platooning and off-road automation and latest analysis of the companies who are manufacturing, adopting and investing in these technologies. Readers can follow the impact such deployment has on everything from policy and infrastructure initiatives to highway congestion, fuel consumption, fleet management, driver management and business investment.
Amazon Plans to Open Cashierless Supermarkets Next Year
Amazon.com is preparing to open Amazon Go supermarkets and pop-up stores, an expansion of the company’s cashierless ambitions that includes the possibility of licensing the technology to other retailers.
Automation Debate Across Trucking Industry Lingers, Lawmakers Say
WASHINGTON — Federal policymakers seek to reassure truckers about their future in the labor force as they acknowledge the need to adapt to a new landscape amid advancements in automation.
NTSB Calls Uber’s Fatal Crash a Lesson for All Automated Vehicle Testing
A 2018 fatal pedestrian crash involving an Uber Technologies Inc. automated vehicle in Arizona indicates that the challenges of self-driving vehicle operations have not yet been solved, and underscores a lack of sufficient federal and state oversight of developmental automated vehicle testing, investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board said at a Nov. 19 hearing in Washington.
NTSB Slams Uber Self-Driving Car Unit’s Safety Culture
Uber Technologies Inc.’s self-driving vehicle unit lacked an effective safety culture at the time when one of its test vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Ariz., in 2018, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt said Nov. 19.
Convoy to Expand Services After $400 Million in New Funding
Convoy’s intentions for putting a recent $400 million package of additional investment capital to work are straightforward — keep expanding its digital freight business through more machine learning, more automated loads, and more drop-and-hook arrangements.
XPO Robots Assist UK Workers With Holiday Volumes
XPO Logistics has increased its use of robots in the United Kingdom in anticipation of holiday retail volumes, the Connecticut-based company said in a Nov. 19 news release.
November 19, 2019Drones That Do the Work of 500 Farmers Transform Palm Oil
As haze blanketed large tracts of Southeast Asia last month, office workers with Genting Plantations Bhd. in Jakarta were investigating the source of the choking smoke more than a thousand kilometers away.
Ike Maintains Automation Will Add Truck Driving Jobs
Automated trucks developer Ike has a message for those behind the driver’s wheel of an 18-wheeler now: Automation can be complementary, not competitive.
Daimler Rolls Back Autonomous Taxi Plan, Focuses on Trucks
Daimler chairman Ola Kaellenius recently announced that the company was taking a “reality check” on autonomous taxis and focusing on self-driving longhaul trucks instead.
VW Challenges Rivals With $66 Billion Splurge for Electric Era
Volkswagen AG will ramp up spending on electric vehicles and automated driving by 36% as the world’s largest automaker challenges rivals to keep pace with an aggressive shift into the post-combustion era.