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Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes
- rolph 1y agohitchhikers, stowaways, and truck parts thieves will thank you.
- throwawayUS9 1y agoLooks like there will be a vehicle (manned of course) following the trucks at this time (the same way oversized cargo/load moves today).
- tobinfricke 1y agoUnlike "the way oversized cargo/load moves today," the chase vehicle is just another Peterbilt truck pulling cargo, but with a safety driver. It's not a flag car or something like that.
- mmooss 1y agoThat can't be the long term plan for self-driving trucks?
- superkuh 1y agoIt's good they're doing this first in a place that doesn't get long term snow accumulation on roads. But eventually there should be autonomous vehicle tests in places with non-cherry picked road conditions.
- bryanlarsen 1y agoWaymo has done winter testing in Buffalo.
- cosmicgadget 1y agoAt least for trucking it's viable to cherry pick routes since so many endpoints can avoid dense urban areas, extreme rural areas, and residential zones.
- lenerdenator 1y agoHmmmmm. So we're going to have a lot of people potentially unemployed because of this...
- Analemma_ 1y agoDoubtful. The trucking industry has been screaming for years that they can’t find enough people, almost every 18-wheeler I see on the highway has a “we’re hiring” ad on it, and so on. This is automation coming in to replace humans who are willfully exiting.
- RankingMember 1y agoThey are hiring, but the reason they can't find people isn't because there aren't people out there willing to do the job if it's fairly compensated. The problem is that trucking has lost a ton of upside over the last few decades, particularly after the Motor Carrier Act of 1980. Drivers are often paid per mile instead of per hour, which means long unpaid periods waiting for loads or stuck in traffic.
- imglorp 1y agoSo as usual, "we can't find people" is code for "we tried to exploit the workers until they bled and for some reason we can't figure out, they went elsewhere."
- RankingMember 1y agoBingo. "No one wants to work [for a wage they can't live off of with pitiful benefits] anymore!"
- hbsbsbsndk 1y agoIt's an incredibly dangerous job, both in terms of chronic health and acute risk.
- 9rx 1y agoSince COVID happened until this year I would have told you "we can't find people" too, but this year the applications have flooded in. So at least they'll come crawling back eventually.
- andy99 1y agoCurious if there are specific route features that make this feasible or not, like traffic conditions or the roads or the warehouses on either end.
- vel0city 1y agoI used to drive this route every few months for many years. Lots of seas of warehouses at the edge of both of these metro areas. I-45 is in pretty good shape with a lot of recent overhauls over the last decade along the whole path. You don't need to do any difficult overpasses or interchanges. 99% of this is just stay in the right lane and drive straight. You could almost do this with just adaptive cruise control. Which I mostly did a few times, just turn on cruise control and stay in the lane and you're there in a few hours.
- ge96 1y agoTangent Reminds me of this (automated systems still doing their thing after humans are gone) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhRapsbwhqE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhRapsbwhqE
- arcsincosin 1y agoI like the tone of SOLSTICE 5 by P Chadeisson as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cntb3wcZdTw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cntb3wcZdTw
- somethoughts 1y agoI feel like the ideal scenario would be to prioritize self driving truck at set times and set long haul freeways (i.e. Long Beach to Las Vegas or Galveston to Dallas) during the night time when there is no regular auto traffic - for example from 1 am-6 am. That way if a human driver is concerned, they can choose not to drive during this period of time. Perhaps run the trucks in a train style configuration where a "conductor" can sit in the lead truck and manage any emergency issues that arise (i.e. security, crash or weather related). If fully autonomous, I could see securing the cargo being real issue - what would stop a few cars passage in front of the truck and helping themselves to the cargo.
- reaperducer 1y agoPut the driverless truck in their own roads and you've just reinvented the train. The only difference is how maintenance of the route is paid for.
- somethoughts 1y agoYes - agreed if we had dedicated truck train roads. The proposal I would prefer is to do more of a time based multiplexing of the road between daytime auto traffic and night time truck train traffic. And I'm not saying autos couldn't drive at night, just people could decide whether they want to trust the autonomous truck software. As it stands we probably won't get that choice and its just shoved upon us.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- insane_dreamer 1y agoIn other words, trains
- cenamus 1y agoYeah, sounds almost like Musk's hare-brained plan to put self-driving teslas (driving with only a couple metres separation) in paved tunnels. I guess some people really hate sharing the bus/car/train with poor people
- EvanAnderson 1y agoThere's also a trial of "platooning" of driverless trucks on I-70 in Ohio and Indiana: https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbishop1/2025/04/24/ease-logistics-deploys-truck-platoons-on-i-70-in-ohio-and-indiana/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbishop1/2025/04/24/ease-... A "drivered" lead truck is leading one or more driverless trucks in this case. I drive the stretch of highway these trucks are on fairly regularly. I don't know that I've seen a group of them yet but I'm keeping my eye out. I'm probably just showing my age, but I like the idea of a "drivered" truck leading driverless trucks versus a completely autonomous system. It's similar to my attitude on crewed spaceflight-- I like the idea of the ingenuity and capacity for independent thought supervising an automated systems, versus autonomous automated systems.
- EsotericAlgo 1y agoThis reminds me of an oft recommended book "Digital Apollo". One of the driving topics is the human interaction component and the difference in designing a fully automated system versus one that is designed with an operator that can intervene. If I recall correctly, the book presents a dichotomy between the rocketeers and pilots (automate entirely and strap people on for a ride vs design a system controlled by a human). I think they both have their place, but I think acknowledging it as a system design choice is so helpful even in basic business processes (how will I handle exceptions, how will the person remember to handle a rare exception). I find myself thinking of this problem frequently. We have lots of modern words for it like observability but I think that removes one a bit from the actual problem.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago> A "drivered" lead truck is leading one or more driverless trucks in this case My bet is this goes nowhere. It’s a horseless carriage that doesn’t have enough time to pay itself back versus fully-automated platoons with remote back-up.
- EvanAnderson 1y ago
- kgwxd 1y agoJust as there's about to be nothing to ship
- _heimdall 1y agoIt will be interesting to see how this plays out with any impacts from tariffs if we keep playing that game long term. I guess I should say its morbid curiosity. If we do in fact have a lot of drivers out of work because international shipping is way down, I hope humans are hired before these trucks.
- supportengineer 1y agoIn America, we are willing to do anything to avoid expanding or upgrading our rail infrastructure.
- AlotOfReading 1y agoThe biggest problems with American rail infrastructure are related to passenger service. The US has one of the largest freight rail systems in the world by whatever metric you want to use: total miles (#1), annual tonnage (#2), ton mileage (#3) or modal share (#7). In any case, semis occupy a largely separate mode of transportation that aren't cost competitive with freight rail where it's viable. Autonomous semis are competing mainly with the limitations of human drivers, not freight rail.
- sien 1y agoTo reinforce this, an article about how the US has a world leading freight rail system. https://www.marketurbanist.com/blog/why-americas-freight-train-system-is-the-worlds-best https://www.marketurbanist.com/blog/why-americas-freight-tra...
- potato3732842 1y ago>mainly with the limitations of human drivers, not freight rail. Which are regulatory more than technical at this point and could change overnight. Obviously drivers need to sleep but the tech to make doubles and perhaps even triples workable exists but isn't worth deploying because our regulations are stuck in 1980.
- guywithahat 1y agoThe US already has the largest freight rail system in the world, there are just things rail can’t do
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- sunflowerfly 1y agoCreate a hub and spoke system with automated container sorting at the hubs. Basically build a national rail distribution system that works like a modern distribution warehouse. Long haul trucking should not exist.
- wonderwonder 1y agoThe future is here. Truckers are one of the largest employers in the country. We are moving fast towards a new era. We need to start thinking about how we adjust as a society
- bdbenton5255 1y agoPhone operators have gone the way of the dodo as well. We should embrace these changes with a forward-looking attitude and look at how such systems create brand new roles in society.
- hackable_sand 1y agoYes we need to start! Tomorrow though, after my shift.
- A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 1y agoI am of two minds about all this. On the one hand, I see the clear, long-term potential given that half the people I see while driving are somehow on their phone. From that perspective, it can't come soon enough. Some people need to be off the road. On the other, I am annoyed that we are effectively beta testing those on public roads with public paying the price.
- pedalpete 1y agoIs it fair to say they are "beta testing" on public roads with the public paying the price after they've done four years with a supervised driver in the cab?
- A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 1y agoI think it is a fair question to ask. I personally might be too influenced by what I see in gaming these days, where the game arrives in unfinished state. The difference there is, there are some clear ways of telling they are unfinished ( or finished ). How can we tell in this case? Do we wait for accident reports?
- yunwal 1y agoWhat would be a better indicator to you than 4 years of driving records?
- kgwxd 1y ago110% transparency. We have no clue how they actually tested, how they cheated, what they're lying about, and all the other nefarious BS corporations constantly pull. A single person could turn all of these things into Decepticon in seconds. We need to know that that is intentionally made impossible, and no one will ever make it possible in secret. It could give someone the power of a global army.
- simoncion 1y ago
- echelon 1y agoAutonomous trucks will be fantastic. Truckers are compelled to work without sleep to finish routes with tight deadlines. It creates a lot of danger on the highway. It feels like autonomous vehicles could become one of America's superpowers. We have so many miles of road and interstate highway. Autonomous vehicles could double down on that strength and flip the underinvestment in passenger rail on its head, making it much less of an issue.
- monkaiju 1y agoSo instead of improve their conditions we just fire them? Sure that won't have any negative repercussions... That's even assuming this is actually remotely profitable compared to just using humans. Like a lot of this sort of automation it probably isn't, and it's true purpose is to be used as a threat against workers so they'll be even more "compelled to work without sleep to finish routes with tight deadlines"
- echelon 1y ago> assuming this is actually remotely profitable Why wouldn't it be? > instead of improve their conditions I wouldn't want to drive a truck. To be frank, I really don't want to answer Jira tickets and write plumbing code either. I sincerely hope that none of what most of us do today has to be a job in fifty years.
- Ygg2 1y ago> Why wouldn't it be? My debt is your asset, and vice versa. Tell me, what does the autonomous truck drink? Or eat? The less you pay the driver the less money does driver have to buy whatever he is carrying.
- jfengel 1y agoThat doesn't automatically mean that the economy drops. The truck driver gets the next-least-undesirable job. That may pay almost the same, or it may not exist. It depends. It's never as simple as "we automated the job so the person is useless."
- gazook89 1y ago> help bolster a critical sector of the American economy, which often can't find enough drivers. They can find enough drivers, but won’t pay them enough or give them any dignity. The industry has a 90% turnover rate per year. So obviously they are finding drivers all the time…they just don’t keep them.
- encrypted_bird 1y agoThank you. This is no better than that terribly disingenuous argument that "nobody wants to work". No, we'd love to work. But we also value not starving to death and having some semblance of work-life balance.
- throwaway48476 1y agoSomeone dug into newspaper archives and found an example of the "nobody wants to work anymore" phrase every year for the last 100 years. The phrase likely predates the printing press. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32161426 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32161426
- mangodrunk 1y agoThanks for sharing. Here’s the snopes article confirming the articles referenced: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nobody-wants-to-work-anymore/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nobody-wants-to-work-anymo...
- encrypted_bird 1y agoThis doesn't surprise me in the least. It's the same thing with older people claiming moral degeneration with younger generations.
- dylan604 1y agoOr every generations' younger crowd that think the olds are senile fools that have no clue about anything today and mainly tolerated and polite to as long as they are in the room, but then immediately make fun of them as soon as they leave. As if there's no wisdom that could be shared from their experience. The folly of youth thinking they are invincible is equal to this so called claiming of moral degeneration.
- thrill 1y agoHaving spent a good bit of time driving in Texas, I'd say the safety-average just measurably went up.
- dylan604 1y agoThe roads between the Austin/SanAntonio, Houston, DFW triangle would be ideal for driverless trucks with each market having a depot where the driverless truck could exchange trailers for drivers to pick up for the local in-town "last mile" delivery.
- bdcravens 1y agoI can't wait to hear the new versions of the "Texas Hammer" Jim Adler's commercials. (for those outside of his market, he has an injury law firm, and has over-the-top ads for those injured by 18 wheelers)
- dylan604 1y agoHe's been around long enough that his son is now (has been for a while) appearing in these ads taking over the family business. He's quintessential ambulance chasers. I'm sure there's a dictionary out there somewhere with his (their?) picture next to the definition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP2bGvEMZ6Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP2bGvEMZ6Q
- NanoYohaneTSU 1y agoNone of those numbers are impressive. Longhaul only from Dallas to Houston. What's missing in the article is the huge number of issues that the system most certainly has. We've been promised driverless technology for over 10 years now. If you can't do it with cars, then why does anyone think we would have it with delivery trucks? Please use critical thinking for one second. I beg you HN. This is just another tech company scam that will get dumped as soon as they get the investor money.
- showdeaduser 1y agoIt's already publicly traded. You can short the stock.
- gerdesj 1y agoWhen these things can drive to Moose Fucker in the far north, across frozen lakes etc then we are in the future. For now: cute but could do better.
- lionkor 1y agoThis is phrased like you're moving the goal post, and that's not really a good way to have a discussion about this. I think this sucks, because my gut tells me it sucks, the same way AI in everything sucks -- it just sounds kinda weird. But, of course, when I think about it, it makes sense in a lot of places. The only way for me to have a valid counterpoint to that is if I move the goalpost. I implore you to not move that goalpost, even if it feels right.
- gerdesj 1y ago"This is phrased like you're moving the goal post," There are two goal posts for football (soccer) plus a crossbar and this analogy is getting a bit strained.
- lionkor 1y agoIt means "you're moving the target". The meaning is essentially that someone claims I can't hit the target, and then after I hit the target, moves it further away and keeps saying I didn't hit it.
- Molitor5901 1y agoI lament the trucking industry because I think it is only a matter of time before it becomes largely autonomous.
- recursive 1y agoHow do you feel about the elevator operation industry?
- dylan604 1y agocomparing an elevator to a semi-truck and trailer as the same is disingenuous at best, and pointless at worst. as of now, i'm hard pressed to find a point to your question
- recursive 1y agoOK I'll explain it to you. Automation changes the labor landscape as it has done since the industrial revolution. This is nothing new.
- dylan604 1y agookay, but automating an elevator is something someone from python bootcamp could do. automating a semi-truck is not. so again, to compare the two is ludicrous. if you honestly feel like they are the same, you are someone I would semi-politely make my excuse to leave the conversation at a party. hey, look, there's someone over there that i haven't seen and would really like to talk to them rather than you. enjoy the party
- tasuki 1y agoIt is directionally similar. We've progressed, so we're automating more. Enjoy the party too. I'll go have a drink with recursive.
- mmooss 1y agoIs that what the public wants? I suspect that if the public was aware, the verdict would be clear.
- joshgachnang 1y agoPresumably cheaper (long term) shipping costs leading to cheaper goods overall? Fewer sleepy truck drivers on the road? Yes, I think the public would want that.
- throwaway48476 1y agoLess 'bonehead Truckers' videos.
- mmooss 1y agoYou're making arguments, but that's not the issue. I don't think the public wants trucks without drivers.
- tim333 1y agoIn the recent HN on Waymo non drivers seem pretty happy with them being safer than human drivers. I imagine there could be similar benefits with autonomous trucks. Also in the UK they make the motorways very crowded. If some autonomous stuff could go overnight when the roads are empty that could help.
- mmooss 1y agoHN is not a representative sample of the public. Also, driving for personal needs has a different set of motivations - one that people tend to trust more - than a corporation driving for profit.
- ortusdux 1y agoIs anyone working on an electric truck system where the battery is on the trailer? Many businesses are constantly rotating the same dry van trailers between hubs. If you charged the trailers at the doc during loading/unloading, the rigs could run 24/7, only stopping to swap trailers.
- dylan604 1y agohow are the trailers getting charged? there are a lot more trailers than tractors, and having enough charge capacity for trailers seems like a lot. There are a lot of trailers that are just a frame with wheels for a shipping container.
- 93po 1y agotrailers have to sit at docks to get loaded and unloaded. they can charge then. meanwhile the truck can leave instantly. maybe a two part system of flatbed trailer with battery + cargo container sitting on top that?
- dylan604 1y agowho's managing/wrangling those trailers to keep them rotating to always stay charged? you just created a new job type at the ports
- EasyMark 1y agoSuch a stupid move. The first major accident (and there will be one, I see them every couple of weeks or so on I35) and they will be taken off the road for 10+ years while they are investigated or outlawed straight up by a reactionary Texas legislature
- drivingmenuts 1y agoThat depends on who is responsible for the wrecked vehicles. If they’re rich enough, nothing will happen to them, regardless and responsibility will magically shift to the poorer party.
- notepad0x90 1y agoI'm assuming these are electric? Because even with a driver, longhaul electric trucks are not practical at scale right now, the energy infrastructure and capacity to support them is nowhere near there. My point being (and please correct me), this is practical but 15-20 years away from widespread adaption, best case.
- bmillare 1y agoIf you take a look at the pictures, it appears those are Peterbilt trucks (non-electric). You can see it more clearly on their own website.
- explorigin 1y agoNot electric, just driverless.
- culi 1y agoIf anyone else is just curious about the companies involved: > autonomous trucking firm Aurora announced it launched commercial service in Texas under its first customers, Uber Freight and Hirschbach Motor Lines https://aurora.tech/ https://aurora.tech/
- hoherd 1y agoI expected to find some of the tech that snow plows use on Donner Pass for lane keeping, RRDPS, but couldn't find any info indicating that they are using highway embedded sensors to aid the autonomous trucks. https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media/programs/research-innovation-system-information/documents/final-reports/ca04-0289-final-report-a11y.pdf https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media/programs/research-innov... > The RRPDS must maintain an estimate of the vehicle state (i.e., position, velocity, heading, and heading rate) relative to the roadway with position accurate to a few centimeters.
- AlotOfReading 1y agoMost autonomous vehicles localize by using a point cloud map of the route with "ground truth" position data (often via GPS). The vehicle looks around and finds the closest point cloud that matches the map, and makes some adjustments for vehicle state (aka pose). GNSS is usually a secondary input if it's used significantly at all.
- analog31 1y agoThe farmers I know tell me that their tractors and combines use autonomous guidance, including turning at the end of each row.
- bluGill 1y agoThey do - I build those for john Deere. basic high school geometry is all it takes once you have gps accurate to a few cm. been working for more than 10 years (though until reciently hard to settup) the important part to note as those systems don't have detection of anyone/thing that might be there. In a rural field no problem as nobody is there but on a city road there will be plenty of things to watch out for. We are working on the safety parts, I'm not in that area so I'm not sure what the current state is.
- analog31 1y agoYeah, the farmers tell me that they still have to be watching from the cab. Apparently deer can be caught off guard for some strange reason.
- bdbenton5255 1y agoI remember reading an online study that listed the jobs most likely to be replaced by automation and "truck driver" was listed at the top. For the keen eye, automation creates new jobs as it replaces others. Someone has to design, implement, and maintain these systems. There is always a higher level of abstraction where a human being is needed to oversee things.
- jclulow 1y agoGenerally it creates comparatively few of those new jobs, and they are concentrated in a different geographic location, than the substantially more vast economic violence of destroying an industry.
- sandspar 1y agoI'm sure that's comforting for the CDL guys who just got laid off.
- tasuki 1y ago> There is always a higher level of abstraction where a human being is needed to oversee things. These become progressively more difficult jobs. Not likely the truck drivers who find themselves out of job will implement these systems. I can already see the LLMs becoming better at computer programming than I am: they're good at the very high level, and they're good at implementing any self contained function. What's left for me is the glue code, creating the API, deciding which functions should be exposed... Soon, I won't be needed either!
- rpozarickij 1y agoI think having some kind of a sign/light on a vehicle (especially big one) saying that it's being operated autonomously could be quite useful. You can't wave at an autonomous vehicle and expect it to understand from the context why you are waving at it.
- ndsipa_pomu 1y agoWhy would you be needing to wave at a vehicle?
- frostirosti 1y agohere's an idea for freight transport efficiency: trains
- lukaslalinsky 1y agoI'm really unfamiliar with autonomous cars, but how do they handle cases like constructor workers or even regular people (in case of an accident), manually handling the traffic by waving at drivers to go or stop? Are they systems smart enough to recognize these? Or is there someone on the other end, getting remote access to the vehicle if the road situation gets weird?
- jontorrey 1y agoFor some video footage: https://www.reddit.com/r/SelfDrivingCars/comments/1cmr4tn/waymo_instantly_reacts_to_hand_signals_from/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SelfDrivingCars/comments/1cmr4tn/wa... Waymo has a bunch of examples of dealing with off nominal pedestrian, emergency personnel, and construction.
- bgnn 1y agoSo now one can hack a truck and steal its cargo? Neat.
- tim333 1y agoThat kind of thing could happen before autonomy. Our factory had someone turn up and say I'm the driver to pick up the truck over there, get given keys and make off with a truck load of stock.
- Fruitmaniac 1y agoOne company's name was conspicuously absent from the article. Does anyone believe Tesla is still a player in the autonomous driving game? They always seem to be playing catch-up.