PITTSBURGH — On a three-lane test track along the Monongahela River, an 18-wheel tractor-trailer rounded a curve. No one was on board.
But in less than nine months, a seven-year science experiment by Aurora will end, and driverless trucks will start carrying loads between terminals for FedEx, Uber Freight, Werner and other partners. Aurora and most of its rivals plan to start running freight routes in Texas, where snow and ice are generally rare.
With billions of dollars in investments at stake, Koopman said, he wonders how the companies will balance safety decisions against cost concerns. Since 2021, Aurora trucks have autonomously hauled freight over 1 million miles on public highways — but with human safety drivers in the cabs. There have been only three crashes, Urmson said, all of them caused by mistakes by human drivers in other vehicles.
“If we put a vehicle on the road that isn’t sufficiently safe — that we aren’t confident in the safety of — then it kills everything else,” he said. In testing on highways with human backup drivers, Burnette said, Kodiak has never experienced a crash in which its trucks were at fault.Almost every year in the United States, a tractor-trailer plows into traffic that is stopped because of road construction, often causing deaths and injuries. By contrast, Burnette said, autonomous trucks pay attention all the time and are always watching 360 degrees.
“I don't want to be on the road with them right now,” she said."I like the gadgets in my car, but I’m not sure the technology is good enough right now to have a truck that drives itself.”