Autonomous

About Autonomous News...

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.

Business, Technology, Equipment, Safety, Fuel, Autonomous

Platooning: Coming Soon to a Truck Near You

Truck platooning — also known by the more precise but less compelling term “cooperative adaptive cruise control” — will soon become available to trucking fleets interested in testing the latest in fuel-saving technology.

Seth Clevenger | Managing Editor, Features and Multimedia
October 11, 2017
Business, Technology, Equipment, Safety, Fuel, Autonomous

VW to Roll Out Electric Trucks, Buses in $1.7 Billion Project

Volkswagen AG is flanking its push into electric cars with plans to roll out battery-powered commercial vehicles targeted at urban areas as growing public concerns about air quality boost demand.

Christoph Rauwald | Bloomberg News
October 11, 2017
Government, Business, Technology, Equipment, Safety, Autonomous, TCA

Iowa DOT Seeks Volunteers for Self-Driving Car Research

Some of Iowa’s leaders in automated vehicle research are seeking volunteers to help test the results of high-definition mapping and data collection.

Mitchell Schmidt | The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
October 10, 2017
Business, Technology, Equipment, Safety, Fuel, Autonomous

Tesla’s Model 3 Bottlenecks Delay Unveiling of Semi-Truck

Tesla Inc. pushed back the reveal of its semi-truck by three weeks as CEO Elon Musk focuses on boosting production of the cheaper sedan that the electric-car maker is counting on to dramatically increase sales.

Anne Riley Moffat | Bloomberg News
October 10, 2017
Business, Technology, Equipment, Autonomous

It’s No Use Honking. The Robot at the Wheel Can’t Hear You

As auto accidents go, it wasn’t much: twelve minutes before noon on a cool June day, a Chevrolet Bolt was rear-ended as it crawled from a stop light in downtown San Francisco.

Ryan Beene | Bloomberg News
October 10, 2017
Business, Technology, Equipment, Safety, Autonomous, TCA

GM Buys Lidar Startup Strobe to Accelerate Self-Driving Cars

General Motors announced Oct. 9 that it is buying Strobe, a Pasadena startup that makes lidar, a laser-based sensor that most autonomous vehicles use to see the world around them.

David R. Baker | Bloomberg News
October 9, 2017
Government, Business, Technology, Equipment, Safety, Autonomous, TCA

Self-Driving Big-Rig Technology Moving Quickly Down the On-Ramp

While advancements in autonomous — or self-driving — cars get much of the attention, development of self-driving commercial vehicles is speeding forward.

Judy Keen | Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
October 9, 2017
Safety, Autonomous

Traffic Deaths Continue to Rise, but Don’t Blame Texting

Traffic fatalities in the U.S. rose for the second straight year in 2016 despite a dip in crash deaths linked to distracted driving, according to data released by federal highway safety regulators.

Ryan Beene | Bloomberg News
October 6, 2017
Government, Technology, Equipment, Autonomous, TCA

Bill Allowing 80,000 Self-Driving Cars on the Road Passes Senate Panel

WASHINGTON – On a unanimous voice vote, a Senate committee approved legislation Oct. 4 that authorizes self-driving car makers to sell as many as 80,000 vehicles a year within three years that would be exempt from current safety standards as manufacturers develop technology for autonomous vehicles.

Todd Spangler | Detroit Free Press
October 5, 2017
Business, Technology, Equipment, Safety, Autonomous

Hacking Risk Is What Worries Americans Most About Driverless Vehicles

U.S. residents are “polarized” on whether to embrace driverless cars, according to a survey by insurer American International Group Inc.

Sonali Basak | Bloomberg News
October 5, 2017