Moderator Richard Bishop (from left), Torc’s Vaughan Schmidt, Covenant’s Koehl, Nevada trucking’s Enos and Forterra’s Araujo talk about the event and rollout of autonomous vehicles throughout a Manifest 2025 panel. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Subjects)
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LAS VEGAS — After a few years of improvement work, autonomous vehicles are actually on the cusp of economic driverless operations on highways, in logistics yards and on non-public websites.
A number of builders and trucking trade consultants shared their outlooks for autonomous trucking throughout a pair of panel discussions on the 2025 Manifest provide chain and logistics expertise convention, held Feb. 10-12.
“I personally assume we’re at an inflection level,” mentioned Dustin Koehl, chief working officer at Covenant Logistics.
What felt like a science experiment a number of years in the past has turn out to be extra concrete as builders have labored with fleet operators to higher perceive their challenges and the way autonomy may assist resolve them.
Koehl, whose profession in trucking has included time at self-driving trucking agency Waabi and truckload service U.S. Xpress Enterprises, acknowledged {that a} stage of fatigue with autonomous autos has set in amongst some trucking firms, however he additionally famous important progress on this subject.
I’ll now make a daring assertion: The expertise is solved. Now it’s actually about constructing a product and constructing an actual enterprise which is protected, which might scale. This takes time.
Peter Vaughan Schmidt, Torc Robotics CEO
Immediately, truck makers are transferring towards manufacturing of autonomous truck platforms with redundant security programs to allow driverless operation, whereas synthetic intelligence is enabling builders to iterate and design merchandise quicker, he mentioned.
Covenant, primarily based in Chattanooga, Tenn., ranks No. 40 on the Transport Subjects Prime 100 checklist of the biggest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 76 on the TT Prime 100 checklist of the biggest logistics firms.
Transferring ahead, the remaining obstacles for autonomous trucking are much less about technical boundaries than about integrating the expertise into the freight transportation trade.
Torc Robotics reveals its autonomous driving system outfitted on a Freightliner Cascadia tractor at Manifest 2025. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Subjects)
“I’ll now make a daring assertion: The expertise is solved,” mentioned Peter Vaughan Schmidt, CEO at self-driving truck developer Torc Robotics. “Now it’s actually about constructing a product and constructing an actual enterprise which is protected, which might scale. This takes time.”
Torc is concentrating on a 2027 industrial launch of its digital driver expertise.
Truck producers have launched fashions designed particularly for driverless operation. These autos characteristic redundant elements to make sure protected operation even when a key system fails — together with backup programs not just for braking and steering but additionally within the sensor suite and onboard computing.
Vaughan Schmidt mentioned Torc’s autonomous driving expertise is able to functioning even when it loses half of its sensor enter and half of its computing energy.
Builders positioned autonomous vehicles not as an alternative choice to human drivers, however as a complement to the trade’s workforce that may unlock important effectivity positive aspects.
Forterra and Kalmar Ottawa showcase an autonomous terminal tractor prototype with an automatic trailer coupling system at Manifest 2025. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Subjects)
“This isn’t a alternative for people. It is a technique to increase and improve the throughput,” mentioned Josh Araujo, CEO of Forterra, a developer of autonomous vehicles for army and industrial functions.
For Paul Enos, CEO of the Nevada Trucking Affiliation, essentially the most promising potential advantage of autonomous trucking is highway security.
“For me, essentially the most compelling factor about autonomous vehicles is stopping accidents,” he mentioned.
Enos mentioned he’s not fascinated by displacing drivers however could be very happy to displace the plaintiff attorneys which might be concentrating on the trucking trade.
An essential innovation for #autonomous yard vehicles: @ForterraDrive is showcasing an automatic trailer coupling system from Electrans that connects with a specialised faceplate developed by @StoughtonTrlrs at #Manifest2025. @Kalmarglobal pic.twitter.com/DM7JIsvCM9
— Seth Clevenger (@SethClevenger) February 11, 2025
A second panel at Manifest delved into a number of use instances and enterprise fashions for self-driving vehicles.
Autonomous trucking startup Bot Auto, for one, is pursuing a transportation-as-a-service mannequin centered on “middle-mile” on-highway freight lanes.
Whereas many self-driving truck builders finally plan to provide their digital driver expertise to trucking companies, Bot Auto intends to function as a motor service itself utilizing its personal fleet of autonomous vehicles.
“We by no means thought of ourselves being a expertise firm. … We consider ourselves as a trucking firm,” mentioned Xiaodi Hou, Bot Auto’s founder and CEO.
He mentioned the guiding “North Star” for Bot Auto is way the identical as it’s for the trucking trade at massive — “price per mile.”
Moderator Lee White (from left), Bot Auto’s Hou, Fernride’s Kramer and Outrider’s Corridor break down a number of use instances for autonomous driving expertise within the trucking trade throughout a separate panel dialogue. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Subjects)
Hou beforehand co-founded and led one other autonomous trucking agency, TuSimple, and is now engaged in a authorized battle with that former enterprise and in search of to liquidate its belongings.
Terminal tractors and yard operations symbolize one other use case for autonomous driving within the freight transportation trade.
“Confined, managed, non-public property environments are an excellent place to start autonomy and automation for heavy autos like trucking,” mentioned Bob Corridor, chief working officer at Outrider, which is creating driverless yard vehicles.
Automating yard operations may also help guarantee the continual, uninterrupted supply of freight, Corridor mentioned, evaluating the logistics yard to the heartbeat of a freight transportation community.
“It’s pumping freight out the identical approach the guts pumps blood, and also you’ve received to maintain that transferring,” he mentioned.
The TruckWings aerodynamic gadget, which closes the hole between the tractor and trailer, put in on a Frito-Lay truck within the exhibit corridor at #Manifest2025. @ConMet pic.twitter.com/IeqjVKwvKj
— Seth Clevenger (@SethClevenger) February 11, 2025
Outrider is targeted on minimizing course of adjustments for firms that undertake the expertise whereas additionally permitting them to deploy it at a gradual tempo.
“For us, accelerating autonomous options means placing little cognitive load on enterprises which might be deploying automation,” Corridor mentioned.
One other developer of autonomous terminal tractors is Fernride, a Germany-based firm that has been deploying its expertise at container terminals and ports in Europe.
Whereas organized labor in the USA is usually proof against elevated automation, unions in Europe are “very pleasant” towards this expertise as a result of it will possibly assist relieve strain on strained operations within the provide chain, mentioned Hendrik Kramer, Fernride’s co-founder and CEO.
Profitable early deployments may go a good distance towards constructing assist and enthusiasm for autonomous autos.
Host Seth Clevenger and TT’s Connor Wolf talk about CES 2025 and the rising applied sciences that might push the trucking trade ahead. Tune in above or by going to RoadSigns.ttnews.com.
“Let’s get began — to have an early win on the first web site,” Kramer mentioned. “And that is potential inside months, not years.”
A number of autonomous truck builders have been actively testing self-driving vehicles on public highways in the USA for years, particularly in Texas. Whereas publicly acknowledged timelines differ from one firm to the subsequent, these builders are actually getting ready to start absolutely autonomous industrial operations with nobody on board within the close to future.
Aurora Innovation plans to achieve that milestone in April, when it intends to take away the protection driver from an unmanned truck working between Dallas and Houston.
Absolutely autonomous vehicles are already transporting freight in non-public web site operations.
In January, bulk service Atlas Power Options introduced it had begun hauling fracking proppant on non-public roads within the Permian Basin with two driverless vehicles outfitted with self-driving expertise from Kodiak Robotics.
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