“With that completed, our work in 20 will be more focused on validating our business model.

“The driver-out runs that were completed in 2022 were in order to validate the company’s technology,” said Ryan Amerman, TuSimple’s vice president of capital markets and business development. TuSimple, which became the first company in the world to successfully complete a driverless run in a Class 8 when its AV technology traversed Arizona streets and highways in 2021, is steering away from that approach over the next two years. Our approach will allow for continued development without the need to perform truly driver out tests until the product is ready.”

“Our focus is on developing the product holistically and a system that we have validated and verified to deploy. “We do not plan to remove the safety driver until we have deemed it is safe,” Grigg said.

While going driverless is an ongoing goal among AV companies, getting there with a Class 8 truck will take some time. Proponents advocating for autonomous trucks in California, including driverless testing, were hit with some tough news in January when California lawmakers Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D) and Tom Lackey (R) introduced a bill that would impose a de facto ban on autonomous trucks in the state by requiring a human operator behind the wheel.ĬCJ Chief Editor Jason Cannon reported this week that despite a recent workshop to discuss loosening testing restrictions the state is drifting farther from allowing driverless technologies on its roadways.Īmid pushback from AV stakeholders, AB316 passed out of the state Assembly Transportation Committee Monday and now moves to the Committee on Communications & Conveyance. “Driverless passenger car tests are often gated to specific neighborhoods or cities.”Īutonomous trucks hit another potholeOf the 5.7 million miles recorded by AV companies in California last year, 5.1 million were with a safety driver while 622,257 miles were driverless. “The data from the California autonomous miles reporting is not a direct comparison to trucks because it features passenger cars within specific operational design domains,” Grigg said.

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