Trucking Without Truckers

The challenges are myriad, but automated-trucking developer TUSimple believes the efficiencies of true depot-to-depot driverless hauling are too promising to ignore.

The developers who are creating autonomous systems have plenty of complex technical questions that must be analyzed and solved, but their challenges don't stop there. Design teams also have to plan for the use cases of driverless vehicles, even going so far as to plan for what might happen if the vehicle has to sacrifice itself to avoid a serious accident.

The challenges associated with the sea change wrought by autonomous trucking has opened the door for companies such as TuSimple, a Chinese startup that's partially funded by Nvidia. The company is developing digital control systems, focusing on both the prototypes needed to prove the safety of driverless trucks as well as the many issues associated with getting them into day-to-day operations.