Monday, November 13, 2017

Self Driving, Robotic Trucks Now Hauling Appliances From El Paso To California

Think fully autonomous vehicles are far off in the future? They're actually on Texas roads ,today, according to appliance maker Frigidaire. Frigidaire and robotic truck technology maker Embark, along with commercial fleet management provider Ryder Systems revealed late Sunday evening that they have been using automated, robotic trucks to deliver loads of appliances from El Paso across the I-10, to a warehouse in California, as part of a pilot program to help move freight more efficiently across the nation. According to the three companies, they have been moving Frigidaire refrigerators 650 miles at a time using automated driving technology since October. The three companies said that the Level 2 systems, for now, have a properly licensed driver ready to take over in the event of any issues, but that it is moving towards a future of fully autonomous trucks for highway operation---and hopes to expand how many of the robotic trucks it has on the road in the pilot, soon.