Sensing changes in autonomous trucks

Requirements for sensors and controls for commercial vehicles differ significantly from those used for cars.

Driver shortages and rising demand are fueling interest in technologies that let commercial trucks navigate with minimal to no human input. Many of the sensing systems being designed into trucks are borrowed from passenger cars, but commercial vehicles have many different requirements.

Radar, cameras, lidar and control technologies for automated vehicles are all advancing quickly, giving commercial vehicle engineers a number of tools to work with. Highway speeds are largely universal, but many factors change when these electronic systems migrate from cars to trucks. The systems and their software will have to be honed to operate with vastly different parameters.