The era of driverless trucks is not too far away

We have heard a lot about driverless cars in the news. But I’m sure this is the first time that you are going to read on driverless trucks. 

As per the tech enthusiasts and scientists, autonomous cars would be available for sale within the next decade. Along with that, self-driving trucks will also come into play. Hence, all people related to the motor freight industry should keep their eyes on this news. It can create a tremendous impact on their career in the long run. ​

Just like the autonomous car projects, a large number of projects have already been started to experiment and come up with an autonomous truck. The Future Truck 2025 project by Mercedes can be considered as a perfect example to prove the fact mentioned above. Microsoft and Apple are actively engaged in this project. As a result, we will be able to see a prominent future in it. There is a separate project to get autonomous trucks on the road by Alphabet, Google, and Waymo. This project also looks promising. To make that a reality, General Motors and Lyft have come forward to provide their assistance. 

During last October, we could see the first prototype of autonomous trucks at its work. It was a unit of Uber and was named as Otto. This self-driving truck was able to cover a distance of 120 miles in Colorado while carrying a load of beer. The project was a success, and the truck didn’t come across any incidents throughout the journey. This project is heavily backed up by the co-founder of Otto, Anthony Levandowski. He was a former employee of Google and has been working on the self-driving project. The knowledge and experience that he accumulated while working on that project has been implemented directly on this project to let it end up with successful resources. 

Now we know that autonomous trucking is a reality. The experiments have indicated positive results. Hence, we need to wait for a few more years to see the commercial production of autonomous trucks. 

When autonomous trucks come into play, we will be able to notice how it can solve a large number of issues that are being faced by people attached to the trucking industry. For example, there is a shortage of more than 20,000 truck drivers as of now. After another ten years, this shortage will increase up to 100,000 because of demographics. Stricter security screenings and increased alcohol and drug testing will also be in a position to create an impact on these results. However, autonomous trucks will be in a position to make sure that the industry doesn’t end up with such a shortage
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Along with the introduction of autonomous trucks, the truck drivers will be provided with a better future as well. For example, those trucks would come along with advanced assisted technologies. The truck drivers who keep on traveling for long distances will be provided with the opportunity to avoid frustration because of these technologies. 

We need to wait for few more years to see how autonomous trucks would come into play. They would revolutionize the trucking industry. Hence, you can keep your fingers crossed and expect for the best to happen. ​​