North Texas is set to welcome driverless freight-carrying 18-wheelers on its highways as two companies prepare to launch routes between Dallas and Houston later this year. And none of them is Tesla.
Kodiak Robotics, a California-based autonomous trucking company, unveiled its “driverless-ready semi-truck” at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The company announced plans to launch its first driverless route between Houston and Dallas in the second half of this year.
The second company, Pittsburgh-based Aurora Innovation, also aims to introduce fully driverless trucks in Texas by the end of the year, with the Dallas-to-Houston route as its inaugural journey.
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Texas has emerged as a testing ground for self-driving technology, thanks to a 2017 state law permitting the operation of motor vehicles with automated driving systems without a “human operator.” Autonomous truck developers, including Kodiak, have conducted tests in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with real customers, utilizing backup safety drivers until the technology matures for solo operations.
Kodiak, which has a hub in Lancaster, has secured contracts with companies such as IKEA, C.R. England, and Tyson to transport their freight, according to Axios. Their trucks are equipped with sensors performing approximately 1,000 checks on the surrounding environment every 100 milliseconds, allowing them to identify and adapt to the behavior of other drivers. Command centers in Lancaster and Mountain View, California monitor the trucks and can take over driving functions remotely if necessary.
Aurora, in partnership with auto supplier Continental, aims to create the world’s first scalable autonomous trucking system. The company plans to expand the technology to thousands of trucks by 2027 after it rolls out the first phase of driverless trucks later this year.
Both companies selected the Dallas-to-Houston route for their initial driverless journeys due to its status as a major freight lane and the region’s favorable regulatory environment.
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