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, Autonomous

Where Rosie Once Riveted, Vehicles Will Now Drive Themselves

Self-driving cars will begin taking test laps this December on the site of a famous World War II airplane factory in Michigan where Rosie the Riveter helped produce a shiny B-24 Liberator bomber every hour more than seven decades ago.

Keith Naughton | Bloomberg News
August 25, 2017
Government, Business, Technology, Equipment, Safety, Autonomous, TCA

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Eyes Chattanooga as Testing Ground for Driverless Trucking

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s new director said Aug. 23 the lab is considering testing in Chattanooga related to autonomous driving and long-haul trucking.

Mike Pare | Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times Free Press
August 24, 2017
Government, Business, Technology, Equipment, Safety, Autonomous

Driverless Vehicles of the Future Confront Rules Written for Drivers

When the U.S. government finally got around to regulating auto safety in 1967, it insisted that every car have seatbelts and that the steering column be engineered to absorb impact so it wouldn’t spear the driver.

Ryan Beene | Bloomberg News
August 24, 2017
Government, Business, Technology, Equipment, Safety, Fuel, Autonomous, TCA

More States Explore Truck-Platooning Technology and Regulations

It could be years before drivers on U.S. highways catch a glimpse of a tractor-trailer rig cruising down the highway with another truck trailing a perilous 20 or 30 feet behind.

Skip Descant | Government Technology
August 23, 2017
Government, Business, Technology, Safety, Logistics, Autonomous, TCA

$90 Million Driverless Vehicle Test Track Takes Shape in Florida

Florida’s best hope to develop self-driving vehicles might lie with an iconic-looking campus and a $90 million test track being built 40 miles southwest of Orlando.

Mary Shanklin | Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel
August 22, 2017
Business, Technology, Equipment, Safety, Autonomous

Chinese Autonomous Truck Startup Opens Research Facility in Arizona

A Chinese startup company developing self-driving technology for commercial trucking has opened a facility in Tucson for research and testing — including a planned Tucson-Phoenix run with an autonomous truck.

David Wichner | The Arizona Daily Star
August 22, 2017
Business, Technology, Equipment, Autonomous, TCA

Colorado DOT Purchases World’s First Automated Self-Driving Construction Vehicle

When Robert Roy was helping to create the world’s first self-driving construction truck, he traveled across the country and talked to people in the construction industry. One of the people he spoke with, the president of a company in Louisiana, told him the story of how one of his employees almost died while working on a highway.

Tommy Simmons | Greeley (Colo.) Tribune
August 21, 2017
Technology, Autonomous, Perspective

Opinion: Four Disruptive Technology Trends in Trucking

When it comes to the trucking industry, we deal with a pace of change that has been constant for years: changing fuel costs, increased regulations, driver shortages, etc.

Victoria Kresge | Vice President, NationaLease
August 21, 2017
Business, Technology, Equipment, Safety, Autonomous

As Robots Take the Wheel, Driving Skills Begin to Hit the Skids

If your car can hit the brakes in an emergency and check your blind spots, will that make you a worse driver? Increasingly, automakers are worrying it may.

Keith Naughton | Bloomberg News
August 10, 2017
Government, Business, Technology, Logistics, Autonomous

Tesla Meets With California, Nevada on Autonomous Truck Testing

Tesla Inc. has met with California and Nevada agencies about testing an autonomous semi-truck ahead of CEO Elon Musk’s unveiling of the next addition to the electric-car maker’s lineup.

Dana Hull | Bloomberg News
August 10, 2017