It looked like just another big rig rolling down a Texas interstate, a sight that inspired a thousand country songs. But this delivery in May was different because there was no driver at the wheel.
The operator, Aurora Innovation, said it was the first fully autonomous commercial trucking operation of its kind on U.S. highways.
The company’s runs between Dallas and Houston on the I-45 corridor quickly racked up 1,200 miles on the road for customers including FedEx and Uber Freight.
But less than three weeks after they started, those history-making runs paused. Paccar, maker of the Peterbilt trucks on the route, asked that Aurora put a person back in the cab. Aurora’s autonomous drives resumed but with an “operator” (Aurora says its operators are less engaged than safety drivers would be) on board. Paccar declined to answer questions about why it had called a halt.
There’s no question that finally putting driverless semitrucks into regular interstate runs will be a turning point for the industry. A driver’s salary is 26% of the per-mile cost of operating a truck, Truckers Report says, while other studies have found it to be around 40%. Going driverless would result in considerable savings for the U.S. freight-truck business, which generates more than $900 billion in annual revenue.