Do you think self-driving trucks will affect the supply chain in the next two years? How so?
No. I do not believe this is a viable option in the United States. Current research is specific for the European theater on confined and controlled highway systems. The United States will require significant highway infrastructure investment to facilitate self-driving trucks.
Bill Carter
Vice President of Logistics, CFI
Yes. There’s an enormous driver shortage plaguing the industry and it’s only getting worse. Retrofitting self-driving technology on current fleets can help alleviate many of the stresses drivers currently face and can help bring more drivers into the fold by making their lives on the road more enjoyable and less issue inducing.
Brendan Isaacson
Director of Operations, HaulHound
Regulation will slow this for some time. People still need to get comfortable with the broader application of self-driving cars. In the next two years, drivers will be doing more than driving the truck. They will be doing more planning of their runs and solving problems.
Al Toliver
Chief Logistics Officer
Redwood Logistics
The next two years will be full of pilots and proof-of-concepts, and then BOOM, we are going to get hit with implemented interstate autonomous trucking and blockchain technologies by a select few leading-edge shippers, carriers, and brokers. Don’t be surprised if 99 percent of the market is not ready. It is going to be the most disruptive event since deregulation in 1980.
Geoff Milsom
Director, Transportation
enVista
Driverless trucks have impacted our business from a software requirements perspective, but I don’t expect to see fleets of autonomous vehicles on the road in two years. As driver assistance systems progress, efficiencies and service improvements will occur.
Gregg Lanyard
Director, Product Management, Manhattan Associates
Home delivery may be a challenge since goods need to be offloaded and potentially installed/serviced; however, commercial delivery with driverless vehicles does represent a good concept for companies focused on safety.
Sergio Torres
VP Product Management, Descartes
We will see real, but limited, usage in the next two years. It will start with platooning on more wide-open interstates and in controlled environments like yards.
Tom Sanderson
CEO, Transplace
Level 3 systems should be common in LTL line-haul operations within the next five years. While technology for fully autonomous vehicles may arrive sooner, it will lag behind defined regulation. This technology will improve fuel economy and driver safety.
Joseph McDevitt, Sr.
Business Development Executive, Translogistics
Yes. With automated vehicles comes an automation of the booking process, and therefore improved quality of data.
Dave Graham
Head of Business Partnerships, Gravity Supply Chain
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