Automated Trucks Need Policy Attention
March 21, 2022
One proposed way to automate trucking—having self-driving trucks handle the bulk of long-haul trips with humans taking the wheel only at the start and end—could replace up to 90% of human driving time, according to a study from researchers at the University of Michigan. They suggest that this automation could affect up to 500,000 long-haul trucking jobs. In Issues, Steve Viscelli takes a hard look at the future of autonomous trucking. This shouldn’t be solely a matter of how technology can increase productivity, he writes. Government regulators and the industry should also pay greater attention to the compensation and safety of human truckers, as well as to trucking’s impacts on infrastructure and the environment.