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Now there is a joke in the self-driving car community: how do you know you are in a self-driving car? There are two human drivers in front. Many companies that test self-driving cars in the United States, such as Uber, Waymo, and General Motors’ Cruise, are equipped with safe driver driving, and an engineer in the passenger seat monitors the car system.

This precaution is necessary because it turns out that fully autonomous vehicles are more elusive than expected. Their arrival dates are constantly being delayed because autonomous vehicle (AV) designers must consider a large number of extremely unlikely but potentially fatal possibilities before safely handing over the steering wheel to the algorithm. It is not enough to record more miles, and many AV companies tout it as statistics that reflect their experience. 

However, the automated trucking company Peloton (not to be confused with the exercise bike company Peloton) is ready to launch its automated semi-truck. The Silicon Valley-based company said it showed off its first self-driving semi-trailer earlier this year. Peloton has been testing the less advanced driver assistance system that has been in development since 2013. It has been tested in six commercial truck fleets, using technologies such as automatic braking and acceleration. In the five-level classification system of the Society of Automotive Engineers, this level of automation is called "level 1" autonomy. (So ​​far, no company has successfully demonstrated a fully autonomous Level 5 machine.) 

Peloton's next car will eject the truck to level 4 capability and drive it entirely on its own. The trick is to keep the human driver in the loop. Peloton avoids the current limitations of autonomous driving software by letting a human driver take charge of the second truck (perhaps more in the future). Human drivers still control the leading vehicles and watch out for any unexpected situations, while autonomous vehicles follow closely behind. The company's "auto-follow" system was first shown to customers earlier this year.

Peloton's following technology wirelessly connects two trucks together. The driver manages the steering, acceleration, and braking of the preceding vehicle, and the following car responds according to the actions of the preceding vehicle. This approach, called queuing, has long been common in the trucking industry because it can reduce the fuel cost of subsequent trucks by reducing air resistance. With automated platoons, drivers can see their productivity double overnight and ease fleet owners who are eager to recruit more skilled drivers.

"We believe that human drivers are the best sensors in the world," Peloton CEO Josh Switkes said at the Autonomous Vehicles Symposium in Orlando this week. "But the only thing better than human drivers is that drivers are equipped with sensor."

Peloton's ambitions are not alone. Another team of researchers and freight companies recently conducted a seven-month experiment in Germany to test similar technology by using rows of automated trucks to transport goods over 35,000 kilometers between Munich and Nuremberg. (21,748 miles). Christian Haas of the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences, who assisted in overseeing the test, said that the autonomous driving system is in operation 98% of the time, and the driver only overtakes the system once every 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles). Haas says the hardware that makes this possible—automatic braking, acceleration, lane keeping and sensor perception—have begun to become standard equipment for major truck manufacturers.

Not everyone believes it. Daimler Trucks’ view of queuing has become bleak in the past year: In January of this year, the company announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that it is actually exiting this for the foreseeable future. technology. Daimler believes that in long-distance driving, the fuel saving rate is very low. A spokesperson told Quartz in an email that the company stated that the technology "currently does not show a business case for customers to use new, highly aerodynamic truck-driving fleets."

But Peloton challenges this view: It claims to have recorded fuel savings of up to 7% in trials and that customers are satisfied with the performance to date. Switkes said that once its technology is installed on more trucks, it will promote automation in the United States because the highway environment is relatively consistent despite different routes, weather conditions, and traffic conditions.

Of course, all of this relies on the person in charge to manage uncertainty. Fully automatic trucks without any human supervision may not appear anytime soon. "We think these have a long way to go," Switkes said.

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