Take a ride in a robot semi-truck, a potential solution to snags in U.S. supply chain

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Take a ride in a robot semi-truck, a potential solution to snags in U.S. supply chain
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With 40 years of experience driving, Randy Redwine never though he'd see the day trucks could drive themselves. To start a 60-mile trip through Tucson, Arizona,, Redwine pushes a button and takes his off the wheel.

Last year, I jumped behind the wheel of a semi-truck to learn what it takes to get a commercial driver's license., according to the American Trucking Association. And schools like the one I went to in Phoenix are busy trying to keep up.

As we walk around the truck I can see that it's loaded up with technology, though most of the antennas, cameras and sensors that allow this truck to drive on its own are easy to miss. LiDAR sensors help with field detection and GPS tells the truck where to go. Redwine says he’s made two trips in the truck this morning without intervention. He enjoys watching the trucks improve— but it’s something he didn’t see coming when he started driving 40 years ago.To start the 60-mile trip, Redwine pushes a button and his hands come off the wheel.

Lu says his colleagues joke about how the company is automating “the most boring truck routes,” long-haul routes that require drivers to be away from home for two to three weeks. These routes have the most turnover and are most impacted by the driver shortage, he says. For Lu, attempting the 80-mile run required a great deal of confidence on the company’s part. Over six years, the company’s 100 trucks drove 6 million miles to prepare, he says.

TuSimple's 6 million miles on the road is sort of irrelevant: In this country, a fatal crash happens everyAdvertisement “There are other ways to solve the driver shortage than by inventing self-driving trucks,” he says. “You could pay the drivers more and treat them better.”

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