Self-Driving Trucks Hitting Texas Highway
September 29, 2021
The shipping giant FedEx, in partnership with a software developer and a truck manufacturer, has just launched a pilot program using self-driving trucks for commercial long-haul runs. Operating over a 500-mile stretch of Interstate 45 between Dallas and Houston, the initial fleet will include a “modest” number of trucks and use backup drivers for safety. But before autonomous trucking spreads widely, Steve Viscelli writes in Issues, government regulators, researchers, and the industry need to broadly examine current and evolving policies that affect the lives and compensation of human truckers, as well as road infrastructure and trucking’s environmental impacts.