The History Of American Trucking
The trucking industry in the United States has affected the political and economic history in our country since it's beginning. Before the invention of automobiles, most freight was moved by train or horse-drawn vehicle.
During World War I, the military was the first to use trucks extensively. With the increased construction of paved roads, trucking began to achieve significant foothold in the 1930s, and soon became subject to various government regulations, such as the hours of service. During the late 1950s and 1960s, trucking was accelerated by the construction of the Interstate Highway System, an extensive network of freeways linking major cities across the continent.
Trucking achieved national attention during the 1960s and 70s, when songs and movies about truck driving were major hits. Truck drivers participated in widespread strikes against the rising cost of fuel, during the energy crises of 1973 and 1979, and the industry was drastically deregulated by the Motor Carrier Act of 1980. Trucking has come to dominate the freight industry in the latter portion of the 20th Century, along with what are termed as "big-box stores" such as Wal-Mart and Target.
In The Very Beginning
1896: Inventor Gottlieb Daimler in 1896 converted a horse-drawn cart to be fitted with Phoenix, which was the name he gave to a rear-mounted, four-horsepower, two-cylinder engine he’d designed from a modified passenger car engine. It was the world’s first truck: an automated version of the carts pulled by horse or donkey for millennia. Four years later in 1900, Jack and Gus Mack of Brooklyn, N.Y., founded the company that would become Mack Trucks, which would become the standard-bearer of the modern trucking industry.
Before 1900, most freight transported over land was carried by trains using railroads. Trains were highly efficient at moving large amounts of freight, but could only deliver that freight to centralized urban centers for distribution by horse-drawn transport. The few trucks that existed at the time were mostly novelties, appreciated more for their advertising space than for their utility. Winton Motor Carriage Company built one of the first trailer trucks, converting a car into a tractor and made a small trailer to move cars from its factory in 1899. Ten years later Fruehauf experimented with tractor trailers. The use of range-limited electric engines, lack of paved rural roads, and small load capacities limited trucks to mostly short-haul urban routes.
1901: Truck drivers at the turn of the 20th century worked 12- to 18-hour days, often seven days a week, for $2 a day in dangerous conditions with no protection or job security. They were also liable for any lost or damaged merchandise. In 1901, 1,700 frustrated and fed-up drivers formed the Team Drivers International Union (TDIU) to organize for better wages and working conditions, but a year later, a breakaway group formed the Teamsters National Union. They soon realized they were stronger together and in 1903 merged once again to form the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), the most powerful trucking union in history.
1905: The Teamsters in 1905 joined virtually every union in Chicago in striking against the unfair labor practices of the Montgomery Ward department store. The walkouts and strikes called interchangeably the Teamsters' strike, the Montgomery Ward Strike, and the Chicago Teamsters' strike soon involved thousands of workers and affected the entire city. The moment put the power of union solidarity on display and revealed the forces union workers were up against when challenging the established power structure.
The strikes were also a sign of more bloody battles to come. With the backing of powerful business interests, police engaged in a brutal and bloody campaign of violence against the workers, leaving 21 dead and hundreds injured when the strike was finally broken after more than 100 days.
1907: The Teamsters in 1907 elected Dan Tobin as the union's general president. Tobin, in his early 30s at the time, was an Irish immigrant and self-educated man who was known as a tough, controversial, and visionary leader. He would serve as president of the IBT for an unprecedented 45 years until 1952, growing the organization from fewer than 40,000 members to more than 1.2 million. Tobin was eventually widely understood to be one of the most powerful men in America and is revered as the godfather of the Teamsters.
1910: The development of a number of technologies gave rise to the modern trucking industry. With the advent of the gasoline-powered internal combustion engine, improvements in transmissions, the move away from chain drives to gear drives, and the development of the tractor-semi-trailer combination, shipping by truck gained in popularity.
1912: In 1912, a five-man crew of Teamster drivers from the Charles W. Young Company of Philadelphia departed with three tons of Parrot brand olive oil soap bound for Petaluma, Calif. With virtually no maintained roads and a complete absence of creature comforts, the crew arrived at City Hall in San Francisco in a record 91 days. As the first transcontinental delivery, the dangerous journey captivated the nation and started a new chapter in the story of American industry. The era of over-the-road trucking had begun.
1913: The first state weight limits for trucks were introduced. Only four states limited truck weights, from a low of 18,000 pounds in Maine to a high of 28,000 pounds in Massachusetts. These laws were enacted to protect the earth and gravel-surfaced roads from damage caused by the iron and solid rubber wheels of early trucks.
1914: There were almost 100,000 trucks on America's roads. However, solid tires, poor rural roads, and a maximum speed of 15 miles per hour continued to limit the use of these trucks to mainly urban areas.
1914-15: Otto Neumann and August Fruehauf in 1914 invented the semi-trailer. A year later in 1915, Hermann Farr and Martin Rocking unveiled the fifth wheel, a coupling device that made it possible to quickly and safely hitch and unhitch semis to trailers. The modern tractor-trailer was born. Fruehauf in 1918 established the Fruehauf Trailer Company in Detroit. That business, which acquired more than 1,000 patents, exploded into a global powerhouse with 16 plants 80 distributorships in the U.S., as well as locations throughout the world.
Fractures within the family-run corporation resulted in various legal suits. By 1964 the company was out of Fruehauf family hands; further proxy battles in the 1980s eventually led to a 1997 filing for bankruptcy protection. Wabash National acquired what was left of the company in 1997.
1914 to 1918: The years of World War I spurred rising truck use and development. During the busy war years, the increased congestion of railroads exposed the need for alternative modes of transporting cargo. It was during these years when Roy Chapin, working with a military committee began to experiment with the first long-distance truck shipments, and pneumatic (inflated) tires capable of supporting heavier loads were developed which enabled trucks to drive at higher speeds. Two truck manufacturers that emerged during this time were a former sewing machine maker, White and one that would become a modern euphemism for "truck," Mack.
1918: The state of Maine in 1918 enacted a law prohibiting any truck weighing more than 18,000 pounds to travel its roads. Weight limits would quickly become the norm and long lines of tractor-trailers queued at roadside weigh stations would soon become a common sight. Seven decades later, in the 1980s, the first weigh station bypass systems emerged to replace the inefficient scale system.
By 1920 there were over a million trucks on America's roads.
The years beyond 1920 saw several advancements, such as improved rural roads, the introduction of the diesel engine, which are 25–40% more efficient than gasoline engines, the standardization of truck and trailer sizes along with fifth wheel coupling systems, as well as power assisted brakes and steering. By 1933, all states had some form of varying truck weight regulation.
1920: Although pneumatic air-filled tires had emerged years before, most trucks were still riding on solid rubber tires during the second decade of the 20th century. By 1920, however, most trucks had been fitted with air-filled tires. The innovation allowed for much greater speeds and far smoother rides, but the moment signaled the arrival of a headache familiar to every trucker who has come since: flat tires.
1933: As a part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal”, the National Recovery Administration requested that each industry create a “code of fair competition”. The American Highway Freight Association and the Federated Trucking Associations of America met in the Spring of 1933 to speak for the trucking association and begin discussing a code. By Summer of 1933 the code of competition was completed and ready for approval. The two organizations had also merged to form the American Trucking Associations. The code was approved on February 10, 1934. On May 21, 1934 the first president of the ATA, Ted Rogers, became the first truck operator to sign the code. A special "Blue Eagle" license plate was created for truck operators to indicate compliance with the code. The ATA is the nation’s largest trucking industry trade association and includes affiliated trucking associations from all 50 states.
1934: Trouble had been brewing for a long time in the major Midwest shipping hub of Minneapolis before the Teamsters declared a general strike on May 16, 1934. The city’s fiercely anti-union administration cracked down hard, massive street brawls between workers and so called scab replacement drivers ensued, and on July 20, known as Bloody Friday, police fired indiscriminately into crowds of striking truckers. The National Guard was deployed and the strike finally ended, but the city bowed to most of the Teamster’s demands and the moment was the catalyst for the industrial unionism movement of the 1930s.
1935: Congress passed the Motor Carrier Act, which replaced the code of competition and authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to regulate the trucking industry. Based on recommendations given by the now abolished ICC, Congress enacted the first hours of service regulations in 1938, limiting the driving hours of truck and bus drivers. In 1941, the ICC reported that inconsistent weight limitations imposed by the states were a hindrance to effective interstate truck commerce.
1938: Agricultural trucking took a great leap forward in 1938 when Minnesota trucking executive Harry Werner got bad news from a phone call at the country club where he was playing golf. Werner had lost today’s equivalent of $80,000 when a truck carrying raw chicken broke down, leaving the meat to fester in the hot sun.
Mechanically cooled warehouses had been in use for more than half a century by 1938, but truckers were still packing cold shipments in ice. Doing so forced drivers to make frequent, expensive, and time-consuming stops to re-ice on long journeys. When delays like breakdowns occurred, the cargo was lost.
Werner invented the refrigerated truck, which transformed the regional, seasonal agricultural shipping business into the modern, any-food-anywhere-at-any-time supermarket culture of today.
1940s: The economic boom that followed World War II launched American trucking into the modern era as Americans began spending their newfound wealth on luxury goods that had been rationed during wartime. The trucking industry skyrocketed thanks to innovations like the powerful diesel engine, the refrigerated truck container, and a maze of new roads: The country went from 521,000 paved miles in 1925 to 1.72 million in 1945. In the post-war era, trucks surpassed trains as the primary conveyor of goods and products for the first time since the Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869.
During the post-war boom, small roadside pull-offs began beckoning weary truckers with the promise of diesel fuel, which was rarely offered at traditional filling stations, and a few minutes to rest and stretch their legs. These new truck stops, which soon began offering snacks, coffee, and other comforts, would quickly become a defining characteristic of trucking culture. In 1972, Truckstops of America “Travelcenters of America” became the first truck stop chain. Truck stops today are massive service centers with restaurants, shower facilities, movie theaters, salons, and even casinos and amusement rides.
1941: When America entered World War II, Teamsters became the driving force in America’s military campaign—literally. While even the highly mechanized German war machine was still relying heavily on horse-drawn carts, American troops and supplies were ferried across Europe and beyond by highly skilled, highly experienced Teamsters—125,000 of whom were enlisted in all branches by 1942.
The difficult, dangerous, and often deadly work of combat trucking—high-speed, no-headlight night runs under heavy fire on mined roads often fell to segregated African American units, most notably the famous Red Ball Express.
Also in 1941, President Roosevelt appointed a special committee to explore the idea of a "national inter-regional highway" system, but the committee's progress was halted by the initiation of World War II. After the war was over, the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944 authorized the designation of what are now termed "Interstate Highways", but did not include a funding program to build the highways. Limited progress was made until President Dwight D. Eisenhower renewed interest in the plan in 1954. This began a long, bitter debate between various interests such as rail, truck, tire, oil, and farm groups, over who would pay for the new highways and how.
1945: Citizens Radio Corporation owner and walkie-talkie inventor Al Gross in 1945 invented the Citizen Band, or CB, radio. The two-way communication device launched generations of amateur ham radio hobbyists but for the trucking industry, the moment was a revolution. By the 1970s, virtually every trucker in America had a CB, which they used to inform each other about police activity, to give directions, to ask about nearby gas stations and weigh stations, and just to network, chat, and pass the long, lonely hours that are intrinsic to the occupation.
In the late 1950s, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) conducted a series of extensive field tests of roads and bridges to determine how traffic contributed to the deterioration of pavement materials. These tests led to a 1964 recommendation by the AASHTO (to Congress) that the gross weight limit for trucks should be determined by a bridge formula table based on axle lengths, instead of a static upper limit.
1950s–1960s: From the organization’s earliest days, the Teamsters were among the most inclusive labor organizations in America out of pure necessity, if nothing else. Unlike other unions, which often advocated for white workers first, African Americans and other minorities were welcomed into the IBT ranks and women played prominent roles long before they had an equal say even in their households as early as 1917, the Teamsters made public calls for equal rights and equal pay. When the modern civil rights movement began in the mid-1950s, the Teamsters provided money, organizers, vehicles, and their all-important political clout to the movement. Many of the famous Freedom Rides took place on Teamster buses driven by Teamster union members, murdered civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo was the wife of a Teamster business agent.
1951: By 1951, what had started as a small, fledgling group of disgruntled and powerless truckers had grown into a million-member-strong heavyweight force in American politics, industry, and labor. The union now had seven-figure dues paying membership rolls. Remarkably, the entire journey had taken place under the stewardship of one man—IBT founding father Dan Tobin, who retired the following year.
1954: Country star Terry Fell recorded “Truck Drivin’ Man,” a tribute to the triumphs, hardships, work ethic, and free spirit that defined the American trucker, on Feb. 17, 1954. The song caught fire and enshrined the trucker as an icon of American culture. “Truck Drivin’ Man” would later be covered by the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Willie Nelson, Conway Twitty, Charlie Walker, the J. Geils Band, and New Riders of the Purple Sage.
1956: The fear of having to mobilize for a nuclear attack compelled Congress to create—and President Eisenhower to sign—the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956. The bill authorized tens of billions of dollars to build 40,000 miles of interstate highways in what was the largest public works project in American history. The result was a continental network of well-paved, well-maintained highways that enabled anyone on four wheels or 18 to travel between any two points in the country without encountering a muddy dirt road. This act also authorized the first federal maximum gross vehicle weight limits for trucks, set at 73,280 pounds. In that same year, modern containerized intermodal shipping was pioneered by Malcom McLean, allowing for more efficient transfer of cargo between trucks, trains, and ships.
1957: Twentieth-century Teamsters history can be divided into two parts: the era of Dan Tobin, and the era of Jimmy Hoffa. When James Riddle Hoffa was elected president of the IBT in 1957, the hardscrabble and aggressive union boss cemented his power, destroyed his rivals, got in bed with the mafia, took on Bobby Kennedy, served time in prison, and became both a revered blue-collar hero and a despised labor-racket criminal all at once. The July 30, 1975, disappearance of the most famous, most controversial, and most powerful boss ever to preside over the union remains one of the greatest mysteries in American folklore.
1959: The Volvo brand is synonymous with safety, and the genesis of that branding can be traced to 1959 when Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin invented the three-point seat belt: one of the most important and consequential safety innovations in the history of the world. The device, which was so important that Volvo opened the patent so all automakers could use it, has saved more than 1 million lives, many of them truckers. Even still, a 2015 report from the CDC found that hundreds of truckers die every year in fatal collisions because they didn’t buckle up. One in three annual trucker fatalities can be prevented with the simple device Nils Bohlin invented 60 years ago.
1964: In 1964, the force of nature that was Jimmy Hoffa willed into reality something that had long been deemed impossible. That year, decades of IBT sacrifice and struggle came to fruition with the passing of the Master Freight Agreement, which extended to “non-craft” laborers like truckers the basic benefits and protections that had long been enjoyed by other blue-collar workers. Nearly half a million truckers marched into the middle class.
1970s: The Federal-Aid Highway Amendments of 1974 established a federal maximum gross vehicle weight of 80,000 pounds and introduced a sliding scale of truck weight-to-length ratios based on the bridge formula, but did not establish a federal minimum weight limit. Consequently, six contiguous states in the Mississippi Valley which came to be known as the “barrier states” refused to increase their Interstate weight limits to 80,000 pounds, and the trucking industry effectively faced a barrier to efficient cross-country interstate commerce.
The decade of the 70s saw the heyday of truck driving, and the dramatic rise in the popularity of "trucker culture". Truck drivers were romanticized as modern-day cowboys and outlaws and this stereotype persists even today. This was due in part to their use of citizens' band (CB) radio to relay information to each other regarding the locations of police officers and transportation authorities. Plaid shirts, trucker hats, CB radios, and using CB slang were popular not just with drivers but among the general public.
1974: Although maximum-speed laws date back to animal-drawn wagons in 1650s New Amsterdam (now New York), speed limits had always been inconsistent, arbitrary, and sometimes non-existent from state to state and county to county. That all changed in 1974 when President Richard Nixon signed a bill that mandated a national 55 mph speed limit across all 50 states. The move was designed as a fuel-saving measure in the wake of an oil embargo, but it also helped auto fatalities to drop from 4.28 per million miles traveled in 1972 to 2.73 in 1983. In 1995, Congress repealed the law and handed speed limits back to the states.
1976: The number one hit on the Billboard chart was "Convoy," a novelty song by C.W. McCall about a convoy of truck drivers evading speed traps and toll booths across America. The song inspired the 1978 action film Convoy directed by Sam Peckinpah. After the film's release, thousands of independent truck drivers went on strike and participated in violent protests during the 1979 energy crisis. Although similar strikes had occurred during the 1973 energy crisis.
1977: Saw the release of Smokey and the Bandit, the third-highest-grossing film of that year, beaten only by Star Wars Episode IV and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. During that same year, CB Bears saw its debut; a Saturday morning cartoon featuring mystery-solving bears who communicate by CB radio. By the start of the 80s the trucking phenomenon had waned, and with the rise of cellular phone technology, the CB radio was no longer popular with passenger vehicles, although truck drivers still use it today.
Deregulation
The Motor Carrier Act of 1980 deregulated trucking and created turmoil among established fleets. Deregulation had been coming in bits and pieces as the ICC loosened its grip, trying to stave off congressional action. But the new law brought fundamental change. The most important was easier entry for new competitors. In one stroke, Congress had made millions of dollars in operating authority virtually worthless.
"An Industry in Turmoil" cover story took a look at deregulation a year later. It was predicted that many more trucking companies would not survive to the next business upturn.
Trucking has rebounded from many economic recessions in the past. But this one is different. The rules changed in midstream when federal deregulation opened trucking industry gates to almost anybody on almost any route. With more people competing for a reduced amount of freight, the rate-cutting has become suicidal.
Shippers soon discovered that nimble truckload carriers could deliver large less-than-truckload shipments quicker and cheaper than the LTLs. Truckload carriers, which were largely non-union, began to siphon off business from the major LTLs. Carriers that had dominated the for-hire business for decades were suddenly in trouble, and as the country slipped into recession, big names began to fall by the wayside. At the same time, many truckload carriers thrived.
There were more regulatory changes in the works. In 1982, the federal Surface Transportation Assistance Act passed, leading to the switch from cab-over-engine road tractors to the conventional-cab layout, and the use of bigger and heavier trailers.
1990s: The regulatory landscape continued to evolve. The Trucking Industry Deregulation Act of 1994 prohibited economic regulation at the state level. In 1996, the Interstate Commerce Commission was abolished, with remaining rules transferred to a new Surface Transportation Board within DOT. New regulations focused on the environment and safety.
Despite fears that new EPA regulations would mean the end of diesel, engine makers produced 1991 engines that were actually more fuel-efficient. The key breakthrough was electronic controls.
On April 1, 1992, all drivers of trucks over 26,000 pounds were required to have a Commercial Driver's License. With a shortage of testing facilities, this would result in about 500,000 truckers missing the deadline.
1998: All new air-braked trucks and trailers were required to have antilock brakes, which had come a long way since the "121" debacle, thanks to electronics. The burning issue continues to be power between the tractor and trailer.
Despite all these new regulations, Congress did not think enough was being done to address the safety of the trucking industry, and in 1999 passed a law creating a separate trucking safety administration.
Equipment advances in the 1990s included early electronic stability control and electronically automated manual transmissions.
The late '90s also saw the birth of a communications revolution. In January 1998, a cover story on "Options in Space" looked at tracking fleets via low-earth-orbit satellites Qualcomm, anyone?
2000’s: Customer satisfaction became the ultimate goal during the 2000s. Advanced mobile communications technology (cell phone towers) and Wi-Fi went from expensive luxuries to everyday necessities. The most dramatic improvement has been technology advancement, but there are several other areas that have undergone drastic changes. More companies are giving their drivers opportunities to operate closer to home. Gone are the days of only calling home once a week on a payphone; getting lost in the middle of nowhere with no communication; or pulling over every hour to write in your log book. With the consistent increase in trucking job opportunities, drivers can only expect industry improvements to continue.
Also noted in the 2000’s, "Spiking fuel costs, a driver short-age, severe Winter weather, and a variety of economic factors - including a glut of used trucks impacting equipment trade cycles and fleet financials - have combined to make this first year of the new millennium one of the most challenging for fleet managers since deregulation of trucking in 1980," we wrote.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration was officially born in January 2000, ushering in a decade of increasing safety regulations that would culminate in CSA 2010.
Long-awaited reform of truck driver hours-of-service rules went into effect in 2004 but were challenged in court, rewritten, and challenged again in a never-ending cycle that is still ongoing.
A February 2000 cover story asked, "Electronic Logbooks: Are you Ready?" after federal legislation directed the DOT to look into making onboard recorders mandatory. By late 2009, more fleets discovered a business case for electronic logs. There also were the ever-tightening engine emissions regulations.
A January 2000 cover story, "War on Diesel," reported on the EPA's efforts to declare diesel exhaust a cancer threat. "The U.S. government is trying to declare a death sentence on the use of diesel-powered vehicles," Glenn Keller, executive director of the Engine Manufacturers Association stated.
In January 2002, most engine makers would use cooled exhaust-gas re-circulation (EGR) to meet the regulations. Caterpillar said it wouldn't have its technology ready until a year past the October 2002 deadline, which had been pushed up from January 2004 due to a settlement between most engine makers and the EPA. ACERT was not the success Cat hoped it would be, and by the end of the decade, the company decided to get out of the on-highway engine business.
Throughout the decade, major cover stories nearly every year covered the industry's battle with the increasing and volatile cost of fuel.
In the first quarter of 2000, independent truckers staged protests over the price of fuel as diesel prices reached well over $2 per gallon in the Northeast. By that Fall, crude oil hit a 10-year high of $38 a barrel.
2006: There were over 26 million trucks on America's roads, hauling over 10 billion short tons of freight, and representing nearly 70% of the total volume of freight. Many automobile drivers are largely unfamiliar with large trucks and many accidents are the result of these drivers being unaware of an 18-wheeler's numerous and large blind spots. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has determined that 70% of fatal automobile/tractor-trailer accidents were the result of "unsafe actions of automobile drivers".
2007: The Women In Trucking Association, Inc was founded by trucker Ellen Voie. Its remit is to provide technical and logistical support to women who are already a part of the industry or have an interest in it.
2008: Crude oil was over $100 a barrel and diesel prices spiked to an unheard-of $ 5-plus a gallon in some areas. HDT devoted its entire June issue to "Fuel Crisis Survival." The issue would go on to win the Grand Neal award for business journalism from the American Business Media. Another common theme, especially during the first half of the decade, was terrorism. In November 2001, HDT's cover story focused on the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. "Before, vehicles were means of conveyance. Now they are potential weapons of mass destruction."
In the 2009 book, Trucking Country: The road to America's Walmart economy, author Shane Hamilton explores the history of trucking and how developments in the trucking industry helped the so-called big-box stores (such as Walmart or Target) dominate the retail sector of the U.S. economy.
2010s: Fuel prices are still high, leading to many articles on upping mpg and exploring alternative fuels such as natural gas, and the economy is still only sluggishly recovering from the Great Recession.
EPA's 2010 emissions regulations mean in some areas, diesel engines are putting cleaner air out the exhaust than they are taking in. But the government has a new round of standards, this time targeted at greenhouse gas emissions in the form of fuel-economy standards.
The number of regulations, especially regarding drivers, continues to increase. The FMCSA continues to search for an hours-of-service rule that won't end up in court; it's working on a new electronic logs proposal since its first rule was struck down in court; and other driver health and screening regulations are in the works or now on the books.
The biggest change on the regulatory front has been CSA, the FMCSA's Compliance, Safety, Accountability enforcement system. The system, originally dubbed Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010, has been changing practices and attitudes on everything from pre-trip inspections to electronic logs, to driver training and retention. At the same time, the industry is changing. A March 2010 cover story launched a series on "The Changing Face of Trucking," noting that "Once upon a time, you had truckload companies, less-than-truckload companies, warehousing and logistics companies, rail intermodal companies, port drayage companies and brokers. But today, the lines are blurring.
2016: At the end of October 2016, a truck hauled 2,000 cases of Budweiser 120 miles from Fort Collins, CO to Colorado Springs. It was the kind of delivery that countless truckers had made countless times before. But this time, there was no driver. In partnership with Anheuser-Busch, a start-up called Otto launched one of its new self-driving trucks on a successful mission that the company claims is a window into a future without truck drivers.
Yes, the self-driving truck future is already here.
This past February, a Peterbilt tractor retrofitted with sensors and self-driving software drove from Jacksonville, FL., to Los Angeles along Interstate 10. The test was run by trucking startup Embark, which in partnership with Ryder trucks, has already brokered an autonomous delivery deal with Electrolux and plan to be running 40 trucks full of Frigidaire refrigerators along a route from El Paso to Los Angeles.
Uber, which acquired the self-driving technology company, Otto, began running autonomous trucks on Arizona highways this spring.
Working with German electric vehicle startup e.GO Mobile, European auto parts maker ZF has created the e.GO Mover, a partly autonomous shuttle-like vehicle meant for commercial deliveries or ride-hailing. They already have contracts in 72 cities and plan to build 400 e.GO Movers in 2019.
The current focus of many companies working in this space is not the total elimination of human truck drivers but finding ways to augment them with AI to get more miles traveled at lower costs. A combination of human drivers and AI working together can reduce fuel usage and increase run time.
2020: MayDay! MayDay!! The year 2020 didn't get off to a great start for the American economy.
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