Amazon Tests Self-Driving Trucks, Invests in Tech Startup
Amazon is leaning into self-driving technology, testing self-driving trucks from Embark while also investing in a self-driving vehicle tech startup. Motorists captured photos of the Amazon/Embark self-driving trucks on the road shipping cargo along I-10, though neither company has acknowledged the partnership. Meanwhile, other companies have announced progress in their moves to develop autonomous trucks, with TuSimple also running autonomous commercial trips.
Amazon Begins Testing Embark Trucks
First publicized by a Reddit user, Embark trucks with the Amazon Prime logo emblazoned on the side are making their way along Interstate 10, delivering cargo for Amazon Prime.
Despite motorists spotting the trucks on I-10, neither Amazon nor Embark would comment on the vehicles or what services were being provided. Embark CEO Alex Rodrigues told CNBC that its relationships with major companies are confidential and they would not comment on any specifics. Amazon, meanwhile, touted the safety of autonomous trucks and the enhanced work environment for long-haul truck drivers, but did not say anything about Embark.
Embark Already Test Drove Autonomous Trucks on I-10
Amazon isn’t the first company to use Embark trucks to deliver goods. In 2017, Embark began transporting Frigidaire refrigerators from a warehouse in El Paso, Texas, to the company’s distribution center in Palm Springs, California. The trucks all have a human in the cab to monitor the trip and step in if necessary during the 650-mile trek, but the goal is to have the trucks run with no humans on board.
According to Wired, a human driver goes to the El Paso lot in a Ryder truck, picks up a load of refrigerators and drives them to a rest stop just off I-10. There, the driver unhitches the trailer and a different driver, this one working for Embark, attaches the trailer full of refrigerators to an Embark autonomous truck, enters the Interstate and puts the truck into autonomous mode. The truck then drives itself along I-10 to Palm Springs, where the driver takes over to leave the highway, meeting up with another Ryder driver who reattaches the trailer to a Ryder truck and finishes the journey to the distribution center.
Other Companies Also Running Autonomous Truck Routes
TuSimple, which started in 2015, announced in early Jan. 2019 that its autonomous trucks are making three to five entirely self-driven trips on routes in Arizona. Although the trips are autonomous, there are two safety engineers in the truck at all times during the journey: a back-up driver behind the wheel and an engineer monitoring the data that comes in.
TuSimple hasn’t said who its customers are, but reportedly has 12 clients contracting it to transport goods. It also plans on expanding, with a goal of jumping from 11 Level-4 autonomous trucks in the US at the start of 2019 to 40 autonomous trucks by June 2019. There are also plans to add a route from Arizona to Texas and hire an additional 500 people in the next two years.
Setting TuSimple’s technology apart from other autonomous semi-trucks is that rather than relying on LiDAR, TuSimple uses a camera system. TuSimple says its cameras have a range of up to 1,000 meters whereas LiDAR is at its most reliable within about 150 meters.
Investors seem to be onboard with the company as it recently announced it raised $95 million in funding as is now valued at around $1 billion.
Daimler Producing Level 2 and Level 4 Automation Trucks
Daimler has been working on semi-autonomous trucks, which sit at an autonomy level of 2 (partial automation). Starting production in July, the Freightliner Cascadia tractor-trailers will be able to steer, accelerate, and decelerate without human intervention. The trucks will also have blind spot detection, collision warnings, and lane assist, but will not be capable of driving autonomously for an entire long-haul trip without a human. If the driver takes his hands off the steering wheel for too long, the truck will emit an alert to warn the driver to retake the wheel.
In addition to its level 2 trucks, Daimler said it was hoping to develop a level-4 autonomy truck within the next decade.
Despite moving further ahead with automated trucks, Daimler also announced it was pulling back in one area: platooning. Platooning is a system in which chains of two or more semi-trucks are driven closely together to decrease drag and increase efficiency. Increasing efficiency results in reduced fuel costs, theoretically resulting in significant savings for trucking companies.
Trucks that are autonomous can follow each other more closely than those with human drivers because they do not have to factor in reaction time. With all trucks in a platoon electronically synched, when the first truck slows down the following trucks also slow down instantaneously. With a human driver in following trucks in a platoon, the driver must first be aware that the truck ahead has taken action, process that action, decide what action he should take, then take that action. That process can take up valuable seconds, which could result in an accident. Platooning autonomous trucks eliminates that process.
Daimler, however, says that it didn’t see the fuel savings that it thought it would. Martin Daum, CEO of Daimler Trucks & Buses, noted that real-world traffic mitigates the fuel benefits from platooning. Whereas they hoped to see a 4 percent increase in fuel economy, in real-world conditions the company only saw a 1 percent increase in fuel savings.
“Platooning is a lot of hassle, but we would go through that hassle if it meant a 4% fuel saving for our customers. However, it’s not worth it for just 1%,” Daum said. He further noted that although the company would continue to monitor platooning to see if other companies notice a significant difference in fuel savings, he believes most trucking companies will eventually find the same issues that Daimler found.
Amazon Also Investing in Self-Driving Cars
Amazon isn’t limiting itself to self-driving tractor-trailers. The company recently invested in Aurora, a self-driving car company. In Feb. 2019, Aurora announced it had raised over $530 million in funding from a variety of investors, among them Amazon and Sequoia. How much money Amazon invested in Aurora remains confidential.
Like Embark, Aurora isn’t manufacturing vehicles. Instead, it’s working with VW and Hyundai to get its technology into cars. Those cars could be used like the Embark trucks to deliver Amazon goods to customers, cutting back on delivery costs, especially last-mile delivery costs. According to McKinsey, using autonomous vehicles for the last mile of delivery services could reduce costs by as much as 40 percent.
Are Autonomous Trucks Safer?
As with passenger vehicles, proponents of autonomous trucks cite a decrease in accidents as a significant benefit to using autonomous trucks. Self-driving trucks won’t suffer fatigue the way a human driver will. They also won’t text or drive while under the influence, or cause accidents due to driving while distracted. Truck crashes are linked to 4,000 deaths each year, with the majority of those caused by human error. Decreasing or eliminating human error as a factor in semi-truck crashes could potentially save thousands of lives.
The anticipated driver shortage is another factor in the push for autonomous trucks. The American Trucking Associations estimates that the industry is short around 50,000 drivers, but projects that number could grow to 175,000 by 2024. With 70 percent of goods shipped around the US carried by trucks, a driver shortage that significant would have a drastic impact on the economy. With autonomous trucks taking over long-haul trips and human drivers more willing to take on local deliveries, it is possible that self-driving trucks could play a huge role in alleviating the driver shortage.
Factor in that self-driving trucks wouldn’t be required to follow meal-and-hour rules and the benefits to the trucking industry become even more apparent.
When it announced it was investing in highly automated trucks, Daimler noted enhanced safety, redundancy of systems, and improved efficiency and productivity as reasons to push for autonomous semi-trucks.
“They also make it possible to travel during light traffic times, for example at night, and thus avoid traffic jams by intelligent route management. This has positive effects for truck customers and for the entire economy: the competitiveness of an economy is strongly correlated with the efficiency of logistics,” the company wrote in a news release.
Safety Concerns for Autonomous Vehicles Still Abound
Just because they won’t be subject to human error, however, doesn’t mean autonomous trucks won’t have safety issues. Autonomous cars have been implicated in multiple high-profile crashes, at least some of which were fatal. Any accident involving a semi-truck would also likely be severe, given the size and weight of the semi-truck compared with passenger vehicles. It’s vital, therefore, that autonomous tractor-trailers are thoroughly tested and proven to be safe before many are put on the road where other drivers become guinea pigs in autonomous vehicle testing.
The trucks must be tested to show they can handle other driving tasks, such as entering and exiting highways, and navigating construction zones.
Embark Releases Disengagement Report
In Jan. 2019, Embark released its 2018 Disengagement Report, designed to highlight how well its trucks are doing on the road. Disengagement refers to situations in which human drivers are required to override the autonomous vehicle’s self-driving features and take control. The longer the distance between disengagements, the better for the company. According to Embark’s report, in the last quarter of 2018, its trucks drove an average of 1,392 miles between disengagements, or approximately four trips between Phoenix, Arizona, and Los Angeles.
Other companies that have released disengagement reports include Waymo (11,017 miles between disengagements) and GM Cruise (5,205 miles). California law requires companies that test their autonomous vehicles in the state to release their disengagement statistics.
Sources:
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