When most of us think about self-driving vehicles, we don’t consider much more than the personal, light-duty cars, trucks, and SUVs that we commonly see on the road. But as Uber Freight is keen to point out,

commercial vehicles

like semi-trucks could also become automated in the not-so-distant future. Uber hopes to get this self-driving semi-truck vision to become reality—but what will it take to get there?

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Uber Freight’s autonomous trucking dreams

Uber

provides details on their vision of a self-driving freight line. Although they throw around the phrase “autonomous,” their vision for self-driving trucks is a bit more hybridized than it sounds.

Basically, Uber would plan for

semi-trucks

to be self-driven on the highways, but then upon reaching city limits or a set perimeter recognized by the truck’s driving system, it would reach a waypoint where the navigation is then taken over by a human driver.

Uber calls this their “hub-to-hub” model—where the semi-trucks are simply driving from one shipping location along a supply chain to the next.

Why does Uber Freight want to automate semi-trucks?

Uber wants to automate the

trucking industry

for several reasons, many of which are related to recent issues which have exacerbated the economic slump that the U.S. has been trudging through post-COVID.

Much of the supply chain issues in the U.S. have been caused by a trucker shortage, which has stayed a consistent issue for nearly a decade—much like trucker turnover rates. Uber believes that automating at least part of the trucking process will alleviate these issues.

MORE: Ford Is Turning Its Attention to Electric Commercial Vehicles

Is Uber Freight’s automated hub-to-hub system feasible?

It is—and Uber Freight actually believes it could be a more efficient system than the current fully-human-operated trucking system currently in use. In fact, it has the potential to be 2x as cost-efficient for companies shipping their products ($1/mile vs $2/mile).

Additionally, Uber believes that automated semi-trucks would fill the need for 180,000 drivers required to cover 18 billion miles of dry van freight by 2050. Uber Freight also believes that automated routes that involve human drivers toward the end of the journey would benefit truckers, who wouldn’t have to work so far from home.

MORE:

Why No One Wants to Be a Truck Driver Right Now

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