EQUIPMENT: DRIVERLESS TRUCKS
BEHIND THE WHEEL Tech firms forging ahead with driverless truck platforms BY JASON CANNON
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riverless technology has lost a lot of industry buzz to electrification and, more recently, the coronavirus, but trucking’s formerly “it” thing is still plodding along. Waymo Via – the self-driving subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet Inc. – notes the lack of attention doesn’t reflect the amount of effort being poured into getting the driver out of a truck. Waymo kicked off its self-driving truck program in 2017 and two years later launched a local hotshot delivery partnership with AutoNation, picking up spare car parts and delivering to repair shops in the Phoenix area in the company’s driverless-enabled Chrysler Pacifica vans. This year, the company partnered with UPS Stores in the area to pick up packages and deliver them to a UPS sorting facility. Lauren Barriere, Waymo’s head of new business development, said the company’s two early shipper partners have been drawn to the service because the Waymo delivery vehicles “can be ordered on demand” in an industry where the efficiency of assets is problematic. The average industry asset utilization rate is about 50%, with about three hours of dwell time added for many pickups 58
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and deliveries, compounded by up to 33% of miles that are driven empty. Charlie Jatt, Waymo’s trucking commercial lead, said that as the driverless platform matures, the company’s intent isn’t to serve as a liaison between shippers and receivers. Its preference is to become the technology solution for all parties concerned, with a long-term business model that calls for providing “driver as a service.” Waymo is forging ahead in a driverless segment that in the last two years has lost two one-time major players: Uber and Starsky Robotics. Both companies have shuttered their autonomous truck operations. However, Waymo’s approach to the segment is somewhat different. At least initially, Uber and Starsky were playing simultaneously the role of fleet and technology startup. Waymo rather seeks to partner with OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers to have its driverless technology integrated onto the truck and to work with fleets to provide software services such as support for mapping and remote fleet assistance. Jatt said Waymo has been working closely with OEMs, fleets and shipping customers “to develop a business model to enable an already thriving industry rather than disrupt it.”
| august 2020
Waymo kicked off its self-driving truck program in 2017 and two years later launched a local hotshot delivery partnership with AutoNation, picking up spare car parts in its driverlessenabled Chrysler Pacifica vans.
“We want to be a technology provider,” he said. “Not a truck manufacturer. Not a truck fleet. We don’t even want to own and operate the truck assets ourselves.” Waymo’s technology stack has been in development for more than a decade in the company’s passenger car program. A “big percentage of that, we’re able to use on trucking,” said Boris Sofman, Waymo’s trucking engineering lead. The company’s technology suite uses a combination of cameras, lidar and radar that has been validated by Waymo’s car program but customized and tweaked to facilitate the unique challenges presented by a 40-ton articulated 75-foot-long vehicle. The Waymo autonomous platform has driven more than 20 million miles on public roads and 15 billion miles in simulation, but it has driven exactly zero real-world miles without a person in the vehicle. “All testing happens with drivers in the truck, but we are building toward [full autonomous] technology,” said Vijaysai Patnaik, Waymo’s trucking product lead, who helped found the company’s trucking division in 2017.
