Navistar International Corp. announced that they hope to begin production on self-driving commercial trucks by 2024. This announcement came together with the news that they have purchased a minority stake in self-driving tech company TuSimple.
The partnership between the two companies began back in 2018. Recently though, Navistar President and CEO, Persio Lisboa, says that the decision to cement their relationship by purchasing a stake in the company came after Navistar evaluated technology from other (unnamed) companies.
TuSimple is a tech company based jointly out of the U.S. and China. According to TechCrunch, they currently have a fleet of 40 self-driving trucks which are being used for testing and deliveries between Texas and Arizona.
Navistar and TuSimple say that the trucks going into production in 2024 will be Level 4 autonomous trucks. This means that while the self-driving system will be able to pilot itself safely from end to end without outside input, it will still need a human driver sitting behind the wheel to oversee operation and take control in event of an emergency.
“We are kicking off a full go-to-market production program,” TuSimple President Cheng Lu said. “With the combined expertise of Navistar and TuSimple, we have a clear path to commercialize self-driving Class 8 trucks at scale.”
Source: overdrive, techcrunch, forbes, ttnews
Wasn’t this already tried, and the company scrapped the idea, because the A.I. couldn’t see in heavy rain, or snow? It also couldn’t see if someone was giving in person directions, like a policeman at an intersection when the traffic lights stopped working. Good luck!!
Level 4 is as high as I want to see them. Mine is level 3, except when it snows, or enough bugs cover the sensors, or in torrential rain, or if the stars are aligned just right, or just because it doesn’t feel like working at that particular moment.
And what does “end to end” mean? Navigating city streets? Backing into loading docks?
I don’t believe it. Literally. There is no way computer logic could ever make all of the decisions necessary to navigate a semi tractor trailer where they need to go. It very often takes communication with other drivers, law enforcement, construction workers, etc. It requires driving outside of normal patterns (driving over the lines — even into the opposite lane of travel, etc). Computers require perfect logic, and trucking is very “messy”.
The personal injury shysters will be having a field day.
I think what they mean by end to end is taking a FedEx trailer from one exit to another exit, the simplest of the simplest. Which might be a good thing since their drivers are primary hired to roll trucks
Bring it on, another good reason to quick this underpaid 5th world salary job, been trucking for 30 years and all I see is down down down down rates and government control, I’m sorry for the new drivers, they will be slaves on wheels.
Navistar self driving? Joke of the year
Navistar, sued by the EPA for lying about their emissions. Now they are going to be a pioneer of self driving. OK. Insert deer eating popcorn GIF here.
“…it will still need a human behind the wheel to oversea operation and take control in event of an emergency.”
Reaction time to take evasive action will be increased dramatically by this but guess what? Driver be signing on to run one of these death traps will full liability in the fine print. Have a nice trip,dumb-dumb!
So Navistar don’t like O/O’s either! Good because I don’t like their junk trucks anyway.
I say it’s time to bring in drivers to TAKE THEM GREEDY CEO’s jobs & put out of the company & in the bread line.
Yep. Time for a serf/slave/colonial uprising. Has that ever ended in anything other than a bloodbath, and more slavery?
I mean, there *was* the American Revolution, but scroll forward a few years, and things pretty much returned to where they were, except for the very rich… or did that pretty much stay the same, too? Well, taxes went down… for a while. For people who could afford a lot of tea… Well, we got to keep our guns… sort of… for a while… if we had guns, in the first place…
Self driving trucks all come with self serve cargo….they also love roll in convoy mode.