First Self-Driving Semi Hits American Roads

Yahoo Auto ^ | May 6, 2015 | Justin Hyde

[Idaho_Cowboy]

Self-driving cars seem likely enough; there’s still several tech and legal hurdles to clear, not to mention the question of how much they’ll cost, but most experts inside and out of the auto industry see them as inevitable given enough time. Now, Daimler’s Freightliner unit wants to push long-haul trucking in the same direction.

Unveiled atop the Hoover Dam, the Freightliner Inspiration Truck is the first semi granted a license in the United States for autonomous driving, for tests on Nevada highways (note the special license plate in the photos below.) Equipped with arrays of cameras and radars, along with extensive software controls, the two Inspiration Trucks built by Freightliner can steer in a lane, maintain speeds and brake without human intervention at highway speeds. It also has to know when to alert the driver to take control; that driver of course has to handle all non-highway duties as well.

[Disambiguator]

Cue up “Red Barchetta.”

[central_va]

So this tractor has an automatic transmission?

[Buckeye McFrog]

Breaker, Breaker, one-nine, this is the Ghost Jockey, you copy?

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***It also has to know when to alert the driver to take control;***

Then what good is this automated equipment if you still have to have someone take over in bad situations.

[Farmer Dean]

Must be.Check out the pic of the interior of the cab,no gearshift in sight.

[wally_bert]

For rolling over the vast flatland coupled with real time monitoring to start,it could work. I would be leary of heavy populated and very high traffic areas.

[11th Commandment]

Are these trucks programmed to pull in front of you right as you are passing them on a steep hill, then slow down to 45 mph- finally allowing you to pass 2 miles later on the way down the hill? If not, I’ll miss that.

[Dust in the Wind]

If it has to have a minder then just why? Humans can read the road much quicker than ‘putors. If you don't want a driver then put it on a train.

[KC_Lion]

Oh No, That's how Maximum Overdrive Started!

[Opinionated Blowhard]

[NorthMountain]

Then what good is this automated equipment if you still have to have someone take over in bad situations.

If the operator has little experience actually operating the equipment in good situations, what makes anyone think he'll do any good when things go south?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I’ll wait for the first non truck driver trucking song to come along...

[Moonman62]

Steven Spielberg could do a remake of Duel.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067023/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_43

[Proud2BeRight]

It can anticipate black ice on the far side of a bridge? It can see the 2X4 in the lane ahead and the cop with a customer on the emergency lane? It can anticipate the action of the moose or elk on the side of the road?

[Spruce]

How long before some fun-loving pranksters repaint the white lines right off a bridge?

[oldbrowser]

Drone trucks will not be far behind.

[Regulator]

Ain’t driving with me on I-80.

“oops we killed your entire family because the software was bad - sorry”

Uh, No.

Call in the airstrike there, Big Buddy....

[dp0622]

sleeping at the wheel full of a heavy breakfast truck doing 65 on highway. suddenly...ALERT!!!....sounds good.

[Dalberg-Acton]

One big gripe I hear from truckers is car drivers whipping in front of them and slamming on the brakes. Will it have a cursing function?