America long ago decided it was easier to ship most goods across the country with trucks on highways rather than by rail. Our highways grew larger and people found that when their industry died, they could get a job driving a truck. That last part may be ending, as a startup named Aurora is set to launch its first driverless 18-wheeler by the end of the year. Aurora's experimental trucks are equipped with two full computer systems in case one fails. They use silicon photonics and lidar sensors to keep track of the surroundings. All the hardware and software go through a barrage of testing to see how it copes with weather and unexpected events.
But Aurora is not the only company working on driverless trucks. Kodiak and Gatik are developing these trucks as well, with some differences. Together, these companies have spent hundreds of millions on getting autonomous trucks on the road. While we are still getting used to driverless cars in just a few cities, the goal of putting 40-ton big rigs on interstate highways without drivers might give you pause. These companies believe that their trucks will be safer for the general public than those driven by humans. Read about the impending launch of driverless transfer trucks at Ars Technica.
(Image credit: Aurora)
Also: turns out one claim "the driverless system was not turned on at time of impact" might be because he had them programmed to turn off if they detected an imminent impact