Autonomous Trucking
Given the far-reaching effects of the automation of goods movement, aka autonomous trucking, NACFE has decided the time is right to start exploring the subject of autonomous trucking as an enabler of the more efficient and sustainable movement of goods.
NACFE’s Perspective
Our look at this topic is a departure from our more traditional Confidence Reports — which focus on scaling available technology — and Guidance Reports — which focus on getting emerging technologies to the market in a timely manner.
When it comes to autonomous trucking, we are in the nascent stages of development and while we anticipate producing a Guidance Report on the subject in the future, for now we are presenting some thought leadership pieces in the hopes of opening a dialogue on the subject.
NACFE sees the road to autonomous trucking along a continuum which includes technologies that enable automation including advanced driver assistance systems as well as platooning prior to getting to fully autonomous trucks.
Levels of Automation
SAE International has described levels of automation from 0 to 5, with 0 being no automation and 5 being full automation.
In addition to our own work, we will include work from other sources that we have carefully vetted. Watch for these updates soon.
One Final Note
We know that there are many benefits and consequences of a future that includes autonomous trucking. It is not our intent to be all-inclusive here, but rather we hope to start the discussion and bring to light some of the things we believe need to be discussed.
We welcome your thoughts and comments. Contact Mike Roeth, NACFE Executive Director, at mike.roeth@nacfe.org with your concerns, thoughts and ideas on this subject and the role NACFE should play in the autonomous trucking future.