Self-driving truck company Embark Technology Inc on Tuesday said it was handing over a few of its trucks to Knight-Swift, in what the companies called the first instance of a carrier owning and operating autonomous trucks as part of its fleet.
Abidi said the Knight-Swift partnership would bring the company one step closer to the final commercial rollout. The pilot, while limited in scale, marks a departure from the autonomous trucking industry's current operations, in which the trucks are owned, operated and maintained by the technology companies while doing limited deliveries on behalf of customers.
Abidi said the Knight-Swift drivers will be trained to supervise autonomous trucks and Embark was developing a pre-trip truck inspection protocol.Texas and Arizona have emerged as the top U.S. states for autonomous truck tests thanks to their warm weather, long, uncongested roadways and friendly regulation.