Robot trucks get US tests, raising self-driving safety stakes

Waymo plans to test all kinds of autonomous vehicles at its new facility in Ohio. Waymo’s trucking division earlier last summer began testing driverless rigs carrying freight with J.B. Hunt Transport. — Waymo/AFP

Shipping companies and software developers are experimenting with self-driving trucks as a way to solve a driver shortage worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic, drawing fire from safety advocates who call the technology a risk to motorists.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc, Uber Technologies Inc’s freight division and FedEx Corp are among the operators testing automated big rigs as a lack of drivers has caused ports to back up and intensified the supply-chain squeeze gripping the US economy. While self-driving trucks are still years from winning regulatory approval, pioneers of the technology see it as a long-term solution to an increasingly intractable labor problem.