Driverless commercial trucking begins in Texas

Autonomous semis began their first regular commercial routes between Houston and Dallas this week, driverless trucking firm Aurora said. Aurora’s first customers are Uber Freight, a logistics technology company, and Hirschbach Motor Lines, which delivers time- and temperature-sensitive freight shipments.

Aurora briefed state and federal authorities prior to beginning driverless shipments, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Texas Department of Transportation, the company said.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the Aurora rollout of America’s first driverless semis would build his state’s economic prosperity and reputation for boosting innovation. The trucks would use the I-45 corridor, he said in a statement included in the Aurora news release.

Are driverless trucks safe? Aurora conducted experiments and compiled records to build a safety report. Its driving system uses maps that frequently update and are far more detailed than typical navigation apps, the report said. The system is also trained on traffic regulations for its areas of operation, according to the report. Sensors on the vehicles can see farther than four football fields away. The company also previously had backup drivers ride along on all trips to take over in case the autonomous system had issues, though that four-year phase of testing just ended.

Where will the driverless trucks operate? Aurora trucks will drive routes in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona during their rollout phase, according to the company’s safety report. They can drive day or night and in construction zones and heavy traffic. However, the trucks won’t operate in inclement weather at first, as they’ve currently only been tested on light to medium rain and wind gusts up to 35 miles per hour.

Dig deeper: Read Lauren Canterberry’s report on President Trump’s decision to scale back some tariffs for automakers.