As the race to create robot cars intensifies, a secondary race is underway: a high-stakes competition to develop the sensors that serve as the cars’ “eyes.” Lidar, a light-sensing form of radar, provides vision for the vast majority of autonomous vehicles being developed, but now there are dozens of companies with different twists on it.

The development of self-driving trucks and how they might one day revolutionize the shipment of goods inland has been widely reported. However, while lower on the radar screen, automated container ports are increasingly available for use and already have begun to benefit motor carriers in several ways, industry experts said.

Autonomous technology will be among the topics to be examined at the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee meetings scheduled for July 30-31, federal trucking regulators announced.

Commercial vehicles utilizing automated technology have the potential to increase highway safety and provide a boost to the economy, the country’s top trucking regulator said June 19.

Advances in sensor technology will play a key role in the development of increasingly sophisticated driver- assist systems and the eventual deployment of self-driving trucks in commercial fleets.

FLAT ROCK, Mich. — Executives with the North American arm of engineering company Robert Bosch showed off an electric-hydraulic steering system for Class 8 trucks that they said will aid in the transition to autonomous commercial vehicles and announced a “breakthrough” in substantially reducing emissions of nitrogen oxide from diesel.

Ohio’s public roads and highways are open to autonomous vehicle testing as mandated in an executive order recently signed by Gov. John Kasich.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Center for Mobility to help accelerate development and deployment of voluntary technical standards for connected and autonomous vehicles.

ATLANTA — Automated driver assistance systems are tools the freight industry may utilize to enhance highway safety, a senior executive at UPS Inc. reminded executives at the Technology & Maintenance Council annual meeting March 6.

Manufacturers could save nearly 30% of their total transportation costs through 2040 if autonomous, longhaul trucking is aggressively adopted, according to an analysis of a new survey of U.S. manufacturers by PwC and the Manufacturing Institute.