Autonomous Trucking Questions Answered

As the autonomous vehicle industry races towards our self-driving future, we’re meeting countless challenges every day. From software development to finding the best test routes, the self-driving world has overcome many trials in the name of autonomy – and there are hundreds of these trials yet to be solved.

One of the biggest challenges that the autonomous vehicle industry is facing is in information sharing. Whether we’re connecting with the general public or with government officials, we’re always thinking about the best way to communicate big ideas about AV.

When we start disseminating those big ideas, we turn to organizations like PAVE, or Partners for Autonomous Vehicle Education, to help us level the playing field of autonomous information. From helping to create a library of resources on AV to ensuring that accessibility as at the forefront of our information-sharing, we’re banding with our fellow software, operations, and fleet professionals to face the information challenge.

PAVE x Torc

PAVE is a coalition of industry partners and nonprofit groups with one goal: to bring the conversation about automated vehicles (AVs) to the public so everyone can play a role in shaping our transportation future. PAVE’s mission is purely educational—they don’t advocate for a particular technology or specific public policies. PAVE members believe that we will best achieve the potential benefits of driverless technology if the public and policymakers know the honest facts of what is on the roads today and what is possible for the future.

As a proud part of PAVE, Torc plays a key role in the greater conversation about autonomous trucking. Alongside our fellow members in the self-driving car and truck industry, we shape standardized terms for the various components of our technology, identify consumer pain points, and more. Today, we’re continuing to develop the conversation by doing a deep dive into the PAVE Q&A series, #AVAnswers.

About #AVAnswers

As part of their membership program, PAVE provides a list of in-depth questions that those curious about AV want answered. From ADAS impact on roads today to simulation differences based on vehicle size, this comprehensive list offers insight into where consumer, hobbyist, and AV professional minds are on the subject of driverless technology. This Q&A list, or #AVAnswers list, offers an incredible opportunity for us to communicate our unique perspective on hundreds of issues, challenges, and prospects in driving-related robotics.

What sort of questions the public is asking about autonomous vehicles reveals an incredible amount of insight into how we can continue moving the needle on public information about self-driving technology.

From fellow software developers to government officials, we’re hopeful that our contributions to this initiative will help move the needle towards a more informed future. We’re tackling these questions on our blog – and we’ve already answered a few, in case you’re eager to get a sneak peek of what’s to come.

Broadening the Conversation

It’s no secret that the autonomous vehicle industry is plagued by misinformation, confusion, and a host of other issues. Headlines about autonomous driving are part of our everyday reading, but are those headlines telling the full story?

At Torc, we’re pursuing #AVAnswers to ensure that the full story is at the forefront of our headlines. In order to get the whole picture of the autonomous world before vehicles like ours hit self-driving semi-truck dealerships, we’re providing context behind our technology, our logic, and our outlook on AV as a whole. To do this, we also have to understand where our audiences are coming from. Whether you’re involved in the autonomous trucking industry as a hobbyist or don’t know much about it beyond the big stories, we want to connect all levels of audience with accessible information.

We’re pursuing #AVAnswers with a renewed spirit for a few reasons. First and foremost, we know that our autonomous driving technology has the opportunity to be life-saving. By minimizing trucker driver deaths, reducing the shipping time behind goods like food and medication, and increasing efficiency for freight fleets, our self-driving semi truck software has the potential to save lives.

Secondly, we’re pursuing access to information because we know it’s an integral part of ensuring that this technology succeeds. Our self-driving trucks will launch when it’s safe to do so, but we also know that insurance companies, the general public, and our government officials need to meet us in the middle. Together, we must create reasonable regulations, operating procedures, and standards that keep both our technology and those that interact with it safe.

With these goals in mind, we join groups like PAVE in our mutual mission to shape the future of freight. Together, we can connect people with the possibilities the autonomous future has to offer.

We’re dedicating time and resources towards the PAVE List because we recognize the need for context around these questions. There’s a lot of information about AV out there, but few of those informational pieces include the context necessary to get the full understanding of an issue. At Torc, we seek to marry context to this list of questions to provide insight on what’s myth, what’s possible, and what’s probable.

To follow our deep dive into the PAVE questions, check out Torc’s newsroom; we regularly publish information based on the questions we receive from PAVE, such as our Top 5 Questions About Autonomous Trucks Answered, Will Self-Driving Trucks Be Electric?, and more.