Why Is California Lagging in Autonomous Freight Marketing Tests?

In 2012, California passed legislation, rules of the road so to speak, for the operation of autonomous vehicles on the roads of the Golden State. It took another three years, until 2015, for the regulations to follow.

There were no rules covering self-driving cargo, especially trucks over 10,001 pounds, because they didn't exist. Another reason was the truck inspection regime. The California Highway Patrol needed to be consulted, so the issue was deferred.

It may reappear slowly. After dozens of truck and autonomous technology founders, CEOs and others wrote to Governor Gavin Newsom in June, California released "Driving the Future: Autonomous Vehicles Strategic Framework Vision and Guiding Principles" in late August.

The nine-page document concludes that "AVs promise to be an important part of our mobility future", but adds "they are only part of a broader set of solutions".< /p> A politically secure framework

A reading of the document shows that it is both politically safe and politically correct. Every group, social concern and stakeholder has an important place. But as the villainous Syndrome said in the animated classic "The Incredibles," "When everyone's great, no one will be."

Enter Ariel Wolf and the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association. The group's chief legal officer wants to see California move or lose when it comes to ushering in the commercialization of self-driving trucks.

"No one was really talking about self-driving trucking in 2014, 2015. What they were saying back then was, 'Okay, we can take care of passenger cars [and] light commercial vehicles. We "will move to issue regulations for trucks later."

Now, almost eight years later, nothing has happened. It was even then that self-driving trucking startups Plus, Embark Trucks, Kodiak Robotics, and Waymo Via established headquarters in Silicon Valley. TuSimple is based in San Diego.

"There's this general principle that once you put a ban on it, it's a lot harder to remove it than to allow something in the first place", told me said Wolf. "It's a basic principle of public policy."

Wolf should know because AVIA is a policy-based trade group. Its Model Legislation for Commercial AV Operation has informed legislation in many states. AVIA wants a clear path for robot trucks nationwide. For now, he would be content to get the parties talking in the world's fifth largest economy.

"As autonomous trucking has matured as a commercially viable option, it has attracted more interested stakeholders and become a flashpoint. We will soon be in 2023 and we we are seeing strong headwinds from some stakeholders in California and we are working to open up regulation to meet what they said they would do in 2015."

Do commercial tests elsewhere

Meanwhile, self-driving trucking companies are testing in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Kodiak operates in 10 mostly Sun Belt states, hauling freight longer distances with security drivers, to prove the technology. TuSimple is removing the driver from the truck entirely for pilot races in Arizona in an effort to expand into Texas.

An Embark self-driving truck waits by the side of the road while a law enforcement officer checks it. (Photo: boarding trucks)

"California is the leader in technology in general and with the 2012 law was one of the first to get involved in the autonomous space," Wolf said. “But they are in real danger of falling behind autonomous trucking.”

Whether it's 80,000-pound trucks or robo-taxi, AVIA takes a three-pronged approach to safe AV vehicle operation that requires:

Respond to a condition of minimum risk, stand on the side of the road in the event of a problem.