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Transportation

FedEx Uses Autonomous Trucks For First Time On Delivery Route (mashable.com) 59

Posted by BeauHD from the first-of-many dept.
On Wednesday FedEx announced its first autonomously-driven Class 8 truck delivery route. Mashable reports: Working with truck maker PACCAR and self-driving company Aurora, which is backed by Amazon, FedEx will start making deliveries in Texas using an autonomous semi. The route on Interstate 45 between Houston and Dallas is about 500 miles round trip, and expected to be busy as the holiday shopping season approaches. The test route will run multiple times each week starting Wednesday. The Aurora-modified trucks will drive in real, everyday traffic, and a safety driver will be behind the wheel, but the trucks will be operating in autonomous mode.

Inside the truck cab, Aurora's autonomous equipment includes a screen showing what the truck is seeing around it from the cameras, LiDAR, radar, and other sensors stacked onto the big-rig. Aurora has been developing Level 4 self-driving trucks with other partners like Volvo. At that level of autonomy, the truck can handle itself without human intervention in most situations and driving conditions.
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FedEx Uses Autonomous Trucks For First Time On Delivery Route More

FedEx Uses Autonomous Trucks For First Time On Delivery Route

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  • Is it a private delivery route?

    Well, I guess not after all. After attentively reading TFS, it says:

    At that level of autonomy, the truck can handle itself without human intervention in most situations and driving conditions.

    I guess this means there must be a supervising human on board to be allowed on public delivery routes shared with other humans drivers...

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by ls671 ( 1122017 )

      "the truck can handle itself without human intervention in most situations and driving conditions"

      Can an autonomous truck really qualify as handling "driving conditions"?

      I mean, when you drive something, it's usually something else than yourself. I seldom heard expressions such as "drive yourself better" etc.

      So, I would say an autonomous truck might handle road conditions, traffic state etc. but "driving conditions" sounds awkward to me.

      Then again, maybe it's just me...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Entrope ( 68843 )

        "Most road conditions" might make you happier, but given how often the compound word "self-driving" is used to describe this kind of vehicle, it's probably just you.

        Now please excuse me, I need to drive myself to work!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by nagora ( 177841 )

        "the truck can handle itself without human intervention in most situations and driving conditions"

        Can an autonomous truck really qualify as handling "driving conditions"?

        I mean, when you drive something, it's usually something else than yourself. I seldom heard expressions such as "drive yourself better" etc.

        So, I would say an autonomous truck might handle road conditions, traffic state etc. but "driving conditions" sounds awkward to me.

        Then again, maybe it's just me...

        It's just a missing hyphen: "driving-conditions" being all the conditions that affect the ease of driving: snow, rain, idiots, fords, winds (mainly for high-sided vehicles), etc.

      • Can an autonomous truck really qualify as handling "driving conditions"?

        It's a pretty standard phrase that is clear and unambiguous. Maybe you're not quite ready to be critiquing English grammar yet, eh Ivan?

    • It is in Texas. Texas politics gives a rats ass towards human life. Only corporations short term profits is what they care about. They can't even craft a pro-life bill without adding a witch hunt clause to it.

      Texas would have banned the idea if that were an Electric Semi truck though.

      • True, but we have some of the best personal injury lawyers. I see commercials all the time for 25-50M dollar trucking settlements. And as to EV's, how quickly they forget. Tesla has a factory here.

      • As a Texan, I hope that you continue thinking that if you are ever planning to relocate.

        • Why would I want to relocate there?
          Where I live I get different seasons, working representative democracy, a large diverse work economy, access to government services that at least try to be helpful and efficient.

          Texas isn't really that appealing, it is just a big dust hole, with some Tech companies that are on their way out, as Tech companies move to Texas after they stopped innovating, and just want to mostly mass produce the stuff that they came up in those liberal states, with students fresh out of sch

          • I think you would have a tough time finding a state more diverse than Texas.

            I will agree with you regarding the lack of true seasons in Texas.

      • It is in Texas. Texas politics gives a rats ass towards human life.

        I don't think you grasp the concept of "politics."

      • Re: Is it a private delivery route? (Score:4, Funny)

        by PPH ( 736903 ) on Thursday September 23, 2021 @09:45AM (#61824127)

        It is in Texas.

        Makes sense. Texas is really big and a great place to test this.

        A Texas rancher was bragging to a Rhode Island farmer just how big things in Texas are. "I in can jump in my truck, drive all day and not reach the far side of my ranch."

        "Yep" said the farmer. "I used to have a truck just like that."

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by aitikin ( 909209 )

      Is it a private delivery route?

      Well, I guess not after all. After attentively reading TFS, it says:

      At that level of autonomy, the truck can handle itself without human intervention in most situations and driving conditions.

      I guess this means there must be a supervising human on board to be allowed on public delivery routes shared with other humans drivers...

      Evidently only reading TFS until that point:

      The Aurora-modified trucks will drive in real, everyday traffic, and a safety driver will be behind the wheel, but the trucks will be operating in autonomous mode.

      Emphasis mine.

  • Glad the editors explained those terms for us, like any good journalist would.

    • Good thing you know how to use google, like anyone who belongs on Slashdot does. These terms are not difficult to find definitions for. Complain about this sort of thing when you can't trivially get the information.

      • Good thing you know how to use google, like anyone who belongs on Slashdot does. These terms are not difficult to find definitions for. Complain about this sort of thing when you can't trivially get the information.

        Excuse me! I pay for news writers to do this for me! ... oh wait.

      • So you think good writing is using terms that normal people have to Google to find out the meaning of ?

        You are wrong.

  • What good is autonomous driving if there needs to be a safety driver behind the wheel at all times? This would negate the costs savings, I'd think.

    Or is FedEx paying the safety drivers less because they're not actually driving most of the time?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by ls671 ( 1122017 )

      Actually, those type of drivers should require more competences thus being paid more than a regular truck driver.

      Short story; this is still in the beta phase, in the R&D stage, where you burn more money than you make.

    • What good is autonomous driving if there needs to be a safety driver behind the wheel at all times? This would negate the costs savings, I'd think.

      Or is FedEx paying the safety drivers less because they're not actually driving most of the time?

      Well, someone needs to drop the packages off.

        I don't think there are trebuchets to launch the packages from the vehicle (yet).

      • What good is autonomous driving if there needs to be a safety driver behind the wheel at all times? This would negate the costs savings, I'd think.

        Or is FedEx paying the safety drivers less because they're not actually driving most of the time?

        Well, someone needs to drop the packages off.

        I don't think there are trebuchets to launch the packages from the vehicle (yet).

        Two separate tasks. The trucks will drive themselves between cities to some hub, then humans will deal with the rest. Highway driving is an easier problem to solve than city driving. This will make interstate transportation cheaper, faster, and safer. There will be convoys of self-driving trucks shuffling along 24 hours a day.

      • Well, someone needs to drop the packages off.

        I don't think there are trebuchets to launch the packages from the vehicle (yet).

        Trebuchets? Now you have my undivided attention. I just might like this autonomous stuff.

      • Unfortunately the phrase "delivery route" is a bit misleading here. This is a semi truck "delivering" packages from one shipping center to another. It only drives on the highway.

        The purpose is to log road hours in autonomous mode, to speed up eventual adoption of the technology. Even if "self driving cars" don't show up for decades, self-driving trucks on the freeway might. It is much closer to the improved cruise control that already works well. And if it is only operated on specific routes programmed into

    • Fedex, of course, would be considerably less interested in the new tech if it wasn't going to save them money. It just doesn't have to save them money right now.

      If the semiautonomous vehicles log enough safe miles, it will be easier to market them as fully autonomous semis to the public, and especially to the insurance companies that would need to cover the new, driverless fleets.

      • Fedex as well as the other companies are having enormous labor shortages. I saw an article about understaffing at their portland facility is causing them to re-route packages around it. There is becoming a huge disconnect in the US. Labor participation rates are at historic lows. CEO/laborer pay ratios are at all time highs. Not good.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      What good is autonomous driving if there needs to be a safety driver behind the wheel at all times? This would negate the costs savings, I'd think. Or is FedEx paying the safety drivers less because they're not actually driving most of the time?

      Obviously they want to get to the point where no human is involved. Surely you can see this is a step on the way. By this incredible lack of foresight I'm guessing you're also not vaccinated.

  • Distribution center transport only (Score:5, Informative)

    by ITRambo ( 1467509 ) on Thursday September 23, 2021 @08:35AM (#61823883)
    When this initiative was announced some years back, it was stated that the trucks would only travel between distribution centers where items would loaded or taken off the trailer. This is not for home delivery, in case anyone thought that was about to happen,

  • "autonomous semi"

    Fnarr.

  • ... I've already seen one [tfltruck.com]

  • Safety drivers, remote drivers, variance officers.

    Absolutely all of the current self-driving everythings are fantastic, and would only crash thirty times a day on their own. That's absolutely fantastic for modern software. It's a wonderful achievement. It's also completely unusable in reality.

    So many of these types of things, all the way down to hotel room service bots, are so completely not autonomous. We're just been hearing lies for years. I have no doubt that this is yet another.

    Simply put, we don'

    • I gather there aren't any blizzards in Dallas

      Really, really bad drivers. And ice storms.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by BranMan ( 29917 )

      "Simply put, we don't have autonomous trains. On a linear track, we've still failed. On a racing track, curated and cleaned to perfection, we still have no autonomous race cars. We don't even have autonomous elevators; they still have a call-button."

      Um... yes we do have autonomous trains - many airports have them. I've ridden on several, with no issues.

      Um... yes we do have races for autonomous race cars. Look it up. It's not extensive, but it is there.

      Um... elevators have been autonomous for decades. Ye

      • Umm, airport trains aren't multiple on the same track, with weather, and changing conditions, and long hauls. Those trains are like the train at disneyland. it's a ride, not transportation.

        racecars, I'm sure there's one. Let me know when I can watch a tournament at my local racetrack.

        the elevators aren't autonomous at all! They don't come get me. They don't take me where I need to go. They do absolutely nothing until I push the button. Then, they are perfectly happy with me standing inside, and they'

  • Sorry, I45 is a very, very busy corridor Fed-Ex has chosen unwisely as has TxDOT and TxDPS for allowing this.

  • It can handle itself in "most situations." 50%. The other 50% someone gets killed. Oh well, good for the learning algorithm.

  • This is really only a threat to long haul trucking. And it's really not even a threat IMO.

    Drivers are paid a premium for long haul trucking because it sucks. Your on the road, not seeing family, friends, etc.

    The delivery speed improvement comes when the legal framework catches up with the technology and you don't need a safety driver anymore. That truck can drive 24/7 from coast to coast. Human drivers have driving hour limits, etc. Most likely they will put remote driving into these trucks for the odd c

    • I don't get why long haul trucking is a thing. Why not simply use trains? You can haul a LOT more and it's a LOT simpler to drive a train.

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