Self-Driving Semi Trucks Hitting the Highway in Nevada

Self Driving Semi-Trucks In Nevada
Self-Driving Semi Trucks Hitting the Highway in Nevada

Self-Driving Semi Trucks Hitting the Highway in Nevada

The Freightliner Inspiration truck unveiled Tuesday at the Hoover Dam. Photo courtesy Daimler Trucks North America
The Freightliner Inspiration truck unveiled Tuesday at the Hoover Dam. Photo courtesy Daimler Trucks North America

HOOVER DAM, Nev., May 6 (UPI) — Daimler Trucks North America said the self-driving Inspiration semi truck unveiled atop the Hoover Dam is headed for the highways of Nevada.

The trucks, from Daimler subsidiary Freightliner, were introduced to the public Tuesday in a ceremony atop the Hoover Dam and the manufacturer said two of the vehicles are being taken for test-drives on the highways of Nevada, one of only four states and the District of Columbia to have laws on the books allowing autonomous vehicles on the roads.

The trucks use radar sensors and cameras to monitor surrounding traffic and lane lines on highways. Daimler said the trucks are driven by humans in city and suburban environments, but the truck can take over and allow the driver to focus on other tasks during long stretches of highway.

Wolfgang Bernhard, head of Daimler’s commercial truck operations, said it will be some time before the trucks are put into use for commercial purposes.

“We don’t believe that everyone is going to jump on immediately,” he told CNN Money. “It’s a process.”

Sven Ennerst, head of Daimler Trucks’ development department, said each self-driving truck will still have a human in the driver’s seat — at least for the foreseeable future.

“We don’t want to get rid of drivers,” he told Wired. “We want to make their lives more efficient and more easy.”

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