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Self-driving truck startup expanding in Arizona

TuSimple, a self-driving truck solutions company, has been testing its Level 4 Class 8 autonomous trucks in Arizona for more than a year and recently began hauling freight for-profit with commercial carriers in the state. Earlier this year, TuSimple expanded its testing facilities in Tucson from 6,800 to 50,000 square feet, and in 2019 the company plans to further expand their footprint. To support its growing development program, TuSimple projects it will create 500 new jobs

Report Says Autonomous Trucks Could Create New Infrastructure, Eliminate Jobs

A new 73-page report authored by Steve Viscelli, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania, and issued by Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California, Berkeley, and Working Partnerships USA on Sept. 5, projects that autonomous trucks could replace as many as 294,000 long-distance truck driving jobs over the next decade, while also fostering the creation of new highway infrastructure dubbed “autonomous truck ports” or ATPs. Though the report –

Truck orders continue record-setting pace

North American Class 8 truck orders reached 52,400 units last month, another all-time high, according to preliminary figures released by FTR Thursday. Six of the top 12 order months on record have occurred in the first eight months of this year and August’s order intake broke the previous record-high set just a month earlier by 300 trucks. August orders were up 153 percent year-over-year and North American Class 8 orders for the past 12 months have now totaled 477,000 units.

Tesla Semi spotted on customer tour, logging several thousand miles

Prototypes of Tesla’s all-electric Semi are beginning to make stops across the U.S., including layovers at some of the company’s key would-be customers. Lowell, Ark.-based J.B. Hunt played host last week to the tractor, which Tesla CEO Elon Musk says “was driven across the country alone (no escort or any accompanying vehicles), using the existing Tesla Supercharger network and an extension cord.” That extension cord, according to some who were at J.B. Hunt headquarters when t

Truck driver on Toyota’s hydrogen truck: “I don’t ever see going back to a diesel truck after this”

Nikola Motor has made plenty of headlines as it develops a hydrogen-electric truck, but it is not the only company working on such as Class 8 vehicle. In fact, there is another company that not only is building one, but is about to introduce its second-generation model to real-world operation in the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Toyota just announced its new model, what it is calling Project Portal 2.0, or Beta, at an event last month. Andrew Lund, chief engineer for P

The Driver Deficit: Who will drive the future?

When it comes to recruiting tomorrow’s driver workforce, the industry must “look at it from a holistic standpoint,” says Phil Byrd, chief executive officer of Bulldog Hiway Express and former chairman of the American Trucking Associations. “One solution won’t solve the problem.” Not given its size: Trucking needs 890,000 new drivers over the next decade – an average of 89,000 per year – to replace retirees and keep pace with growth, according to ATA. An aging workforce and fe

Natural gas-powered trucks are well ahead of electrification

The major OEMs have multiple product offerings in the LNG/CNG space The exhibition hall at the ACT Expo 2018 in Long Beach was stuffed with more vehicles than ever before, including electric buses, forklifts, sedans, SUVs, Sprinter vans, straight trucks, and even an all-electric Class 6 truck from Chinese automaker BYD. But the only battery-electric Class 8 on display was Thor’s now-familiar EV-One. As FreightWaves wrote earlier this week, the Tesla Semi was nowhere to be fou

The Starship is almost ready to launch

FreightWaves reported on the launch of the Shell/Airflow Starship concept truck in March at TMC in Atlanta. The project has moved forward in a significant way: now Shell and Airflow have announced the exact route the Starship will take across the continental United States, as well as the specific stops the truck will make along the way. The Starship will depart San Diego on May 18 and stop in Gilda Bend, Arizona, before driving to Comfort, Texas by May 20, Houston, on May 22,

FMCSA moves to exempt mirrorless truck from federal regulations

The FMCSA has formally moved to exempt the MirrorEye Camera Monitor System (CMS) from Stoneridge from federal regulations as the company seeks to begin on-road testing of the system on vehicles without side mirrors. The Agency published today in the Federal Register an exemption request from Stoneridge that would allow the MirrorEye to serve as a substitute for regulations requiring two rear-vision mirrors, one on each side of the vehicle, as required by Federal Motor Carrier

FMCSA Plans to Consider Lengthening Commercial Learner Permit Validity Timeline

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration plans to submit a proposal that will lengthen the amount of time a commercial learner’s permit is valid, according to a statement from the agency. FMCSA’s proposal would extend the permit timeline to a year from the date of issuance. According to provisions in the Code of Federal Regulations, a commercial learner’s permit can be valid for no more than 180 days from the date of issuance. After six months, the permit holder must r