Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.For many years, the most promising potential use for self-driving technology was ride-hailing services in big cities. Tesla and Waymo are locked in fierce competition with Chinese rivals such as BYD and Baidu for the mass rollout of robotaxis. But behind that high-profile race, heavy duty trucks have quietly emerged as another important battleground for autonomous technology.In April, US-based Aurora Innovation, which partners with Volvo, Uber and FedEx, plans to commercially deploy up to 10 driverless trucks hauling freight between Dallas and Houston. Autonomous technology could massively disrupt a $4.6tn global market for road freight which is under pressure from a shortage of truck drivers, as well as the rising cost of logistics and volume of online parcels.How does the technology work?Self-driving trucks are equipped with a series of sensors and radar and camera systems to offer a 360 degree view of the surroundings to detect pedestrians and other obstacles, even under challenging weather conditions. The hardware is also integrated with an artificial intelligence system that analyses millions of data points to learn new routes and to navigate obstacles. Start-ups in the space — including Aurora, Kodiak Robotics and Einride — are all aiming for “level 4” autonomy, which involves autonomous vehicles driving themselves with no human behind the wheel in limited, pre-mapped areas. While the technologies involved are similar to those behind robotaxis, proponents of autonomous trucks say they are simpler to develop since they are not envisioned for use in congested urban cities, for now. These trucks will spend the bulk of their time on highways, moving freight from one location to the next using mostly the same routes.How developed is the technology?In 2019, Swedish start-up Einride became the first company globally to deploy a fully autonomous truck on a public road. Its founder and chief executive Robert Falck says the company already has technological capabilities to deploy fully autonomous systems at scale, but other factors — such as regulations and customer readiness — still need to come into place before there is mass adoption. While its system is already fully autonomous, Einride currently has workers who monitor the trucks remotely and assist with any problems.“If you look at factories and warehouses, we all apply autonomous transportation,” Falck said. “My vision and ambition is to start to spread that outside of that environment and to create an autonomous electric transport system to match what we are already doing.”Regulations also vary according to markets. In the US, 39 states expressly or implicitly allow the deployment of autonomous trucks, according to Aurora. But there is no federal regulation on the use of self-driving trucks. The EU also set out a legal framework for fully automated vehicles in 2022 but the use of these vehicles is mostly limited to individually approved routes and “hub-to-hub” transport. And regulations also vary according to each country. “It would be much better if you have one set of rules,” said Nils Jaegar, president of Volvo Autonomous Solutions.Who are the winners and losers?Consultancy McKinsey estimates that the autonomous heavy-duty trucking market will generate revenue of $616bn in 2035, of which $327bn would come from China, $178bn from the US and $112bn from Europe. Critics of self-driving vehicles say human drivers will be replaced but proponents say the autonomous trucks will address a serious labour shortage in the industry by operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In the US, the industry is short of more than 80,000 drivers, a number which is expected to double by 2030, according to the American Trucking Associations (ATA). In Europe, more than 200,000 truck driving jobs are unfilled and that number is likely to rise to 745,000 by 2028, according to McKinsey.Transportation costs are also rising due to higher pay for drivers and fuel costs, while the volume of freight is likely to keep growing.In addition to highway transport in the US, Volvo is also offering its autonomous system to the mining and quarrying industries where drivers often operate in dangerous, accident-prone environments. “To remove the human being from this hazardous environment is crucial,” says Jaegar. But while logistics and trucking industries look to deploy automation to address higher labour and transportation costs, there remain broader safety concerns among the general public. “In order to scale autonomous technology, in particular when you are on public roads, you need to have the buy-in from society,” Jaegar added.
