Autonomous Trucking Continues to Build Momentum for Large Fleets

Autonomous trucking has been a hot topic in the transportation sector for the last few years. While an interesting concept for solving the industry’s driver shortage and creating safer roadways, most ultimately still see it as a long way off.

Partnerships between logistics and robotics companies, however, may bring the future to light faster than we thought. A.P. Moller – Maersk, a global leader in logistics services, and Kodiak Robotics, which is working to develop a technology stack built for long-haul trucks, recently launched the first commercial autonomous trucking lane between Houston and Oklahoma City. Kodiak has been delivering eight loads per week, with a safety driver behind the wheel, for Maersk customers since August. Consumer products are loaded onto 53-foot trailers at a Houston facility and transported to a distribution center in Oklahoma City for four round trips per week on a 24-hour-a-day, four-day-a-week basis.

“The collaboration between Maersk and Kodiak demonstrates the future of autonomous trucking technology,” says Michael Wiesinger, vice president of commercialization, Kodiak Robotics. “A few years ago, fleets were dipping their toes into autonomous trucking technology with small-scale pilots. Today, major fleets increasingly see autonomy as core to their long-term strategic objectives and are working closely with developers like Kodiak to integrate autonomous technology into their supply chains.”

Autonomous trucking solutions continue to grow for their potential to address long-term challenges faced by the trucking industry. According to the American Trucking Associations (ATA), the trucking industry faces a shortage of roughly 78,000 drivers. Based on current driver demographic trends, as well as projected growth in freight demand, the ATA also estimates the shortage could swell to more than 160,000 over the next decade.

“The opportunity for autonomous trucking is enormous,” says Wiesinger. “The trucking industry faces tremendous headwinds…By focusing on long-haul routes, autonomous technology can reduce some of the pressures of the driver shortage, helping to grow the economy and create jobs.”

Safety also continues to be a perennial challenge for the trucking industry, with U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) research estimating 94% of crashes occur due to human error. Kodiak’s technology makes safety a priority, including a vehicle equipped with 18 different sensors, such as cameras, radar, and lidar, that provide the platform with a 360-degree view around the truck. Every tenth of a second, the truck evaluates the performance of more than 1,000 safety-critical processes and components in both the self-driving stack and the underlying truck platform. The trucks learn in parallel, with system upgrades shared to the entire fleet simultaneously, and are not subject to environmental distractions.

“The biggest challenge facing the autonomous trucking industry is ensuring that we build more than just technology,” says Wiesinger “We need to build products that meet the needs of our partners in the trucking industry. That’s why the work we’re doing with Maersk and our other customers is so important. It helps us build a solution that works for our partners in real-world operations.”