This past Sunday, Bunny and I were talking to my friend Tom Lanahan (the friend that invited me for a little train ride [1]) about self-driving vehicles when I mentioned the tests that are underway in Nevada [2] involving self-driving trucks. Tom was skeptical it would ever come to that, if only due to liability and felt that we were still years away from it happening.
Yeah …
The first autonomous vehicles to hit US highways will not be Google or Apple cars, but self-driving trucks – and they will be riding roads in Florida [3] by the end of the year.
The self-driving construction vehicles, fitted with special rear-end crash barriers and lights, have been successfully demonstrated, driving using GPS waypoints and following a lead car, mimicking its path, braking and speed.
The specialised crash trucks are fitted with large signs to warn road users of the presence of workers and are used to protect construction crews resurfacing roads, painting lines, inspecting bridges or installing traffic signals.
Via Bob Anstett on FaceGoogleMyTwitterPlusSpaceBook, “Self-driving ‘crash’ trucks to hit Florida highways this year | Technology | The Guardian [4]”
… it's a thing.
[2] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-
[3] http://www.theguardian.com/us-