Autonomous Trucking Test by TuSimple

ACM TECHNEWS

Autonomous Trucker TuSimple Logs First No-Human Road Test

By Associated Press, January 5, 2022

Autonomous technology developer TuSimple said its self-driving unmanned semitruck completed an 80-mile trip in Arizona on public roads without human intervention.

The nighttime trip started at a Tucson, AZ, railyard and ended at a distribution center in Phoenix, with approval and oversight from Arizona's Department of Transportation and law enforcement.

A lead vehicle scouted the route for obstacles roughly five miles ahead of the truck, while another vehicle trailed the semi by about a half-mile in order to intervene if necessary.

TuSimple said the semi managed highway lane changes, traffic signals, on-ramps, and off-ramps while "naturally interacting with other motorists."

From Associated Press

'TuSimple said it was the first successful fully-autonomous run by a class 8 vehicle, or semi, on open public roads with no human intervention'.

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No Driver on Board: Autonomous Trucks to Take to the Road

 Evan Ackerman presents a good overview of the state of autonomous trucking.   Door to door, with lots of links to background information.    This should get us lots of further useful data about operational experiences. (ie accidents)  and the implications.     Having worked in trucking industry HR management and optimization, can see there will be big changes.

This Year, Autonomous Trucks Will Take to the Road With No One on Board

The startup TuSimple is deploying tractor-trailers that drive themselves from pickup to delivery

By Evan Ackerman  in IEEE Spectrum

Companies like Tesla, Uber, Cruise, and Waymo promise a future where cars are essentially mobile robots that can take us anywhere with a few taps on a smartphone. But a new category of vehicles is about to overtake self-driving cars in that leap into the future. Autonomous trucks have been quietly making just as much, if not more, progress toward commercial deployment, and their impact on the transportation of goods will no doubt be profound.

Among nearly a dozen companies developing autonomous trucking, San Diego–based TuSimple is trying to get ahead by combining unique technology with a series of strategic partnerships. ... "

Advance of Automated Trucking

Looked at this topic last year, it continues to advance.

Are automated freight trucks ready to carry retail’s heavy load?  in Retailwire  by George Anderson

TuSimple, an automated trucking technology company, announced the launch of what it is calling the world’s first Autonomous Freight Network (AFN), which will enable fleets of driverless trucks using digitally mapped routes to load and unload full truckloads of products at terminals strategically placed throughout the country.

UPS, McLane, Penske Truck Leasing and U.S. Xpress have all signed up to be part of the network, which will roll out in three phases.

By next year, the network will offer service between cities including Dallas, El Paso, Houston, Phoenix, San Antonio and Tucson. TuSimple currently operates seven different autonomous trucking routes between Phoenix, Tucson, El Paso and Dallas. Each truck has a human operator on board in case they are needed to take over for some reason. The company plans to open a new shipping terminal in Dallas during the fall.  .... " 

UPS Invests in Self-Driving Trucks

Could create a considerable change in supply chain operations and improvement.

UPS invests in autonomous truck startup in Bloomberg

UPS has invested an undisclosed sum of money to take a minority stake in the autonomous truck startup TuSimple. UPS' freight business is providing cargo for haul between Phoenix and Tucson on trucks guided by TuSimple's autonomous system.  ... 

USPS Tests Self Driving Trucks

Not home delivery yet, but trucking. 

USPS starts testing self-driving trucks
The US Postal Service has begun a two-week test using self-driving trucks to transport mail between Phoenix and Dallas. The startup that developed the vehicles, TuSimple, has raised $178 million from investors including China's Sina and the US-based chipmaker Nvidia. ... "