While driverless long-haul trucks have the potential to increase economic productivity by enabling more cost-effective transport of goods, the technology is not yet ready for prime time.
There is growing pressure, however, to make it a reality sooner rather than later – particularly as long-distance trucking faces a worsening driver shortage.
At the same time, highway infrastructure in many parts of the country is clearly inadequate even for today’s traffic, let alone a mixed bag of driven and driverless cars and trucks. The safety of autonomous vehicle technology – particularly when it comes to 18-wheelers – will be a question mark for some time to come
Going Full Throttle on Autonomous Trucking
Jason Kuehn on the best way to mitigate public safety risks posed by autonomous trucking.
Dedicated autonomous trucking lanes could simplify technology requirements and minimize public safety risks
The future of autonomous trucking
Tolling is increasingly being used as an option for highway capacity expansion.
US toll road mileage growth:
Source: US Federal Highway Administration
Tolling could help speed up the implementation of driverless trucks on highways.
Source: Oliver Wyman analysis
About Authors
Jason Kuehn is a Princeton-based vice president and Bill Rennicke is a Boston-based partner in Oliver Wyman’s Transportation practice.
This article first appeared in Forbes
