AUTONEWS

TRUCK RUNS OVER 100KM BY AMERICAN HIGHWAY

Almost 130 kilometers on the road in the dark, with ambient traffic, traffic lights, sidewalks and exits – with no one in the truck. It is the latest milestone of startup Tusimple

– We are very confident in being the first to commission autonomous trucks on a large commercial scale, said Cheng Lu, CEO of Tusimple

Earlier this year, it was learned that Scania would operate the E4 with self-driving trucks. The tests, which have been ongoing since then, are carried out in collaboration with Tusimple. The tests include Level 4 technology on the SAE five-point scale for autonomous vehicles.

But in these tests, a driver is at the wheel, as is a test engineer beside him.

Tusimple's own race – and, according to the company, historic – was held on December 22 in a stretch between Tuscon and Phoenix, in the US state of Arizona. The route has, of course, been carefully selected: on the one hand, it is part of a heavy-duty route between California and Florida. Also, autonomous vehicles are not as regulated in Arizona. It is in Phoenix, for example, that Waymo has operated a fleet of driverless taxis since October 2020.

Whether this can be counted historically can be discussed. In August, Plus company carried out a similar unit on a highway in China.

Anyway, according to Cheng Lu, it's not a big deal to dump a driverless truck on a highway.

We are talking about a 40 ton vehicle that travels on the highway at more than 100 km / h. It's much harder to control, harder to stop. The implications for security and reliability are significantly greater

The truck it was honored to drive is a rebuilt Navistar model, but Tusimple's ambition is to work with partners – including the Traton Group, which includes Scania – to develop trucks specifically designed for autonomous operation. The startup already has orders for nearly 7,000 vehicles.

But even if technological development is rapid, it is still important to convince the public that autonomous vehicles are reliable. Although the Arizona test did not require any human intervention, the security crackdown was extensive.

Among other things, the civil police were driving a little behind the truck, and about five miles in front of the Navistar truck, another vehicle was reconnaissance after unexpected detours.

– It takes time to build the confidence to move this industry in the right direction. Therefore, it is important to be very careful, says Cheng Lu.