North Texas has emerged as a hub for autonomous trucking technology thanks in part to business-friendly laws.
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Among the many industries thriving in Dallas-Fort Worth, there’s a relatively new niche making waves: tech companies operating driverless trucks that have found the region suitable for autonomous vehicle operations.
Aurora Innovation Inc., a Pittsburgh-based company, has been testing autonomous trucks in North Texas for a while. After years of testing, the company launched its first totally driverless trucks, without humans on board, between Dallas and Houston near the start of May. But within the month, the company had reversed course and put human “observers” back in the front seat at the request of one of its partners.
Houston-based Bot Auto, meanwhile, plans to launch an autonomous trucking pilot program with routes to and from Dallas, San Antonio and Houston, in partnership with door manufacturer Steve & Sons, Inc. and J.B. Hunt. The company has echoed similar sentiments for choosing North Texas and also lauded the state as a whole.
As for the advantages of the technology itself, self-driving trucks can eliminate several risks such as fatigue, distraction, impaired judgment and slow response times in a world where human error is responsible for more than 90% of vehicle accidents, said Ashim Bose, a professor of practice in information systems at the University of Texas at Dallas, in an email.
