Are Driverless Trucks the Future of the Trucking Industry? 

Commercial trucking is vital to the U.S. economy. Roughly 80 percent of Americans rely on trucking for daily deliveries of materials, goods, and products. In addition, the trucking industry faces a continual shortage of workers, lacking as many as 80,000 drivers in a recent year. So, multiple companies have been working on developing self-driving commercial trucks to ensure that goods continue to be delivered in a timely and safe way.

Will Self-Driving Trucks Replace Truck Drivers?

Self-driving trucks are commercial vehicles that can operate without a human driver constantly making steering, acceleration, or braking inputs. Several states, including California, Nevada, Texas, and Florida, have passed legislation and regulations permitting testing and limited usage of self-driving trucks on highways.

Truck driver unions have been lobbying against the rapid adoption of autonomous technology in commercial trucks, arguing that it will put drivers out of work. However, self-driving trucks have a long way to go before they completely replace human truck drivers.

For example, self-driving trucks are currently only permitted to operate in Sun Belt states that have year-round good weather since current autonomous trucks have difficulty functioning in adverse weather conditions like snow or fog. In addition, state and federal legislatures and regulators are still working to adapt the laws and regulations governing commercial trucking that were written to cover human-operated trucks.

What Trucking Companies Use Driverless Trucks?

Driverless trucks are being developed by tech companies like Google and Aurora and auto manufacturers like Daimler and Tesla. While testing is conducted with truck drivers still behind the wheel, driverless or truly autonomous trucks are being used off public roads. These include vehicles used by the Australian mining company Rio Tinto on its mining sites and by the U.S. Army on bases and in certain combat situations. Limited freight movement is also being tested by automated trucking companies such as TuSimple.

Will Autonomous Truck Driving Avoid Truck Accidents?

Autonomous trucks are expected to reduce the number of truck accidents on our nation’s roadways. Truck drivers, like all humans, make mistakes behind the wheel. Long-haul drivers are especially prone to fatigue when spending hours behind the wheel for days. In theory, self-driving trucks will not make mistakes or oversights that a human driver might.

What If I Get Hit by a Self-Driving Truck?

If you’ve been injured in an accident with a self-driving truck, you may be entitled to compensation if the accident was caused by a technical failure in the truck’s system or carelessness on the part of another party. Compensation could come through a legal claim against the truck’s manufacturer. You could also have a claim against the operator of the self-driving truck since these vehicles often have humans in the cab who should be monitoring the autonomous system and taking manual control when necessary.

Injured in a South Carolina Truck Accident? Call Us Now

The truck accident attorneys at Wilson Law Group, LLC can help if you or a loved one suffered injuries in a collision in South Carolina. Call or contact us today for a free case review.