Loukia Papadopoulos in Interesting Engineering:
Last June, we brought you news of TuSimple, a transportation company focused on driverless tech for trucks, completing a 950-mile (1,528-km) trip 10 hours faster than a human driver could. At the time, eighty percent of the journey was conducted by the autonomous system, while a human was at the wheel for the other 20 percent of the trip, and at the ready to take over the reins if anything faulted with the technology.
Now, according to a new press release, the same company has managed to run an 80-mile (129-km) route with absolutely no human on board. The run, which took place on December 22nd, saw the firm’s autonomous semi-truck begin its journey from a large railyard in Tucson, Arizona, and end at a distribution center in the Phoenix metro area.
More here.