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Aug 24, 2017

SELF DRIVING TRUCKS * USA: A Chinese startup, TuSimple, opened a R&T facility in Tucson

* Arizona - Developer of self-driving technology for semi trucks arrives in Tucson

-- A Chinese startup company developing self-driving technology for commercial trucking has opened a facility in Tucson for research and testing — including a planned Tucson-Phoenix run with an autonomous truck... Beijing-based TuSimple LLC plans to spend millions of dollars and hire as many as 100 employees in the next five years, with the aim of perfecting intelligent driving systems and eventually running fleets of autonomous trucks... TuSimple’s technology employs cameras and radar sensors with the company’s proprietary software and other data to allow trucks to “see” the road in real time, like the human eye...
 (Photo: NVidia and TuSimple's self driving truck) -- Tucson, Arizona, USA - THE ARIZONA DAILY STAR, by DAVID WICHNER - AUGUST 22, 2017

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Aug 12, 2017

SELF DRIVING MARKET RESEARCH * USA: A lot of players

* New York - Global self-driving light trucks driven by growing demand for autonomous systems


--- The leading players in the global self-driving cars and light trucks market so far, have included Google, BMW Group, Daimler AG / Mercedes-Benz, GM, Nissan, Toyota, Ford, Tesla, Fuji, Kairos, Hyundai, and Volkswagen / Audi... One of the key factors currently propelling the global self-driving cars and light trucks market is the growing demand for autonomous systems. The manufacturing capabilities of leading car makers has improved significantly over the past few years, and several of them have already added self-driven car testing to their belts. Companies are also investing heavily into developing safe and secure self-driving software and technologies to allow for a seamless shift between manual and autonomous driving. A number of players are very close to commercially releasing semi-autonomous cars for consumers, a step that is expected to work tremendously in the favor of the global self-driving cars and light trucks market over time... The global self-driving cars and light trucks market is expected to achieve momentous growth due to the growing number of self-driving cars and light trucks permits being issued to users in order to implement automated driving...
(Photo: 1/4 Startup Drive.ai wants to make self-driving cars that communicate with the outside world)  --  NY, USA - MarketResearchReports.biz - 8 August 2017

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Aug 10, 2017

SELF-DRIVING TRUCKS * China: Investors for

China: Nvidia backs TuSimple
--- Chinese autonomous truck developer TuSimple has secured funding from Nvidia Corp while Gu Sheng Tang, an operator of traditional medicine clinic network, completed a $150-million series D... TuSimple, a Beijing-based artificial intelligence startup in developing autonomous truck, has received an undisclosed sum of funding from the US-based chip manufacturer Nvidia Corp... This investment is part of series B round and also Nvidia Corp’s first investment in the Chinese startup. Nvidia will own a 3 per cent stake in TuSimple while the startup will support the development of the US company’s artificial intelligence computing platform for self-driving vehicles, Drive PX2... 
(Photo:TuSimple secures funding from US chip maker)  --  Singapore, China - DEAL STREET ASIA - August 7, 2017

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Jan 19, 2017

AMAZON's SELF-DRIVING TRUCKS + HIGHWAY NETWORK * USA

* Washington - Amazon patented a highway network that controls self-driving cars and trucks

--- Amazon was awarded a patent for a network that manages a very specific aspect of the self-driving experience: How autonomous cars navigate reversible lanes... In the patent, Amazon outlines a network that can communicate with self-driving vehicles so they can adjust to the change in traffic flow. That's particularly important for self-driving vehicles traveling across state lines onto new roads with unfamiliar traffic laws... 
(Photo: Amazon patented a highway network that controls self-driving cars and trucks)  --  Seattle, Washington, USA - CNBC, by Johana Bhuiyan - 17 Jan 2017

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Jan 4, 2017

SELF-DRIVING TRUCKS * Australia: 416 TON VEHICLES

* West Angelas - 416-ton trucks are hauling raw materials

--- Self-driving trucks have begun to hit the roads in the United States, but they’re already hard at work in Australia... British mining company Rio Tinto has 73 autonomous behemoths transporting iron ore 24 hours a day in West Angelas, Australia, across four job sites, according to MIT Tech Review. The autonomous fleet is roughly 15% cheaper than one with human drivers... The trucks, made by Japanese manufacturer Komatsu, weigh 416 tons and use a mix of GPS, radar, and laser sensors to navigate a site. Their job is simple: go to a load site, wait to be filled with iron ore, and then drive to another location. Komatsu estimates that their autonomous trucks have already hauled 1 billion tons of material, mainly in Australia and Chile... The human team overseeing the robots work 750 miles away, according to MIT Tech Review, far from being able to physically take action should something go wrong... However, the fact remains that these machines are replacing well-paying jobs. And mining certainly isn’t the end. While the work sites can be more complex, construction is also fertile ground for automation. Construction inspection might be a first step towards automation in the field, like automatically assessing railway tracks or using drones for building inspections... 
(AP Photo/Matthew Brown - In this Nov. 15, 2016 photo, a mechanized shovel loads coal from an 80-feet thick seam into a haul truck at Cloud Peak Energy's Spring Creek mine near Decker, Mont. Coal from the mine is shipped to power plants for generating electricity)  --  Australia - Quartz, by Dave Gershgorn - December 29, 2016

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Dec 6, 2016

SELF-DRIVING TRUCKS MADE IN * China

* Shanghai - Self-driving Chinese truck in the tuture

--- The $300 billion Chinese trucking market is filled with long hauls and chaos. The government and technology firms are betting that self-driving 18-wheelers are the solution... Last month at the Shanghai New International Expo Center, the Internet services company Baidu (BIDU) and Foton showed off Super Truck. Apart from its array of sensors and distinctive surround windshield, the level 4 autonomous freight truck would not stick out in a crowd of diesel burners. That’s because it’s not from the future. China needs an answer to its freight logistics problem now. That urgency gives Chinese firms a big leg up in the race to autonomy and patent windfalls... Super Truck uses limited self-driving automation developed by Baidu and Foton’s Big Data algorithms for connected cars and driverless commercial fleets. It offers dramatically reduced man hours and fuel consumption. That is definitely something that can be sold to vehicle makers...
(Image courtesy Xinhua/Chen Fei - An automatic driverless super truck manufactured by Foton Motor is shown on an intelligent connected vehicle expo in Shanghai, east China, Nov. 14, 2016)   -- Shanghai, SH, China - Forbes, by Jon Markman - 1st. DEC 2016

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Dec 3, 2016

SELF DRIVING TRUCKS * USA - New trial run on Route

* Ohio - Self-driving truck makes 35-mile run in 
--- A self-driving truck made a 35-mile run on U.S. Route 33 in Ohio Tuesday as state officials prepared to announce details of new investments to support innovative transportation technology on Wednesday... The initial run was scheduled Monday after officials were first scheduled to make the investment announcement, but the event and run were postponed in the wake of the tragic incident at The Ohio State University, which is located in Columbus... Ohio Department of Transportation spokesman Matt Bruning said Tuesday’s trip was scheduled as part of the postponed event, noting that state officials saw no reason not to go ahead with the Tuesday run... 
(Courtesy: OHIO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION - A vehicle built by self-driving truck maker Otto travels down U.S. Route 33 in Central Ohio Tuesday. A Ohio Department of Transportation spokesman called the run “flawless”)   --  Columbus, OH, USA — The Trucker News Services - November 29, 2016

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Nov 23, 2016

SELF-DRIVING CAR in BOSTON * USA: "NuTonomy"

* Massachusetts - Startup NuTonomy to test self-driving cars

--- NuTonomy, the startup that beat Uber Technologies Inc. to public streets with robot taxis, will begin trying out autonomous vehicles in Boston by year’s end... The company, financed in part by Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford’s venture fund, announced on Monday a deal with the city of Boston and state of Massachusetts to test on public roads a Renault Zoe electric car with nuTonomy’s self-driving software... The Cambridge, Mass., startup is racing to roll out an autonomous commercial fleet in Singapore in 2018, well ahead of the time frame announced by auto makers for bringing self-driving vehicles to market. BMW AG and Ford, for example, have targeted 2021... 
(PHOTO: NUTONOMY - NuTonomy’s Renault electric car outfitted with the company’s self-driving software, which will be tested on Boston streets this year)  --  Cambridge, MASS, USA - The WSJ, by TIM HIGGINS - Nov. 21, 2016

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Nov 11, 2016

SELF DRIVED "TESLA" TRUCKS * USA: But requiring trucker in cab

* California - Regulators say Tesla trucks will need drivers, at least for a few years


--- Don't expect future Tesla Semis to be fully robotic. Even though a person won't be needed to drive the truck, an onboard manager will be. Regulators will want years and miles of data before allowing driverless big trucks... Driver not needed, but required. Tesla CEO Elon Musk told the world the company was going to develop the Tesla Semi in July. At the time, he surprisingly suggested the driverless vehicle would probably need a driver anyway, at least for a while, as reported by Electrek...  More recently Musk told CNBC, the first trucks will be used to gather data for regulators as well as add a level of safety. “It’ll be a few years after trucks can self-drive before regulators have seen enough data to feel comfortable not having a driver in the car. I think it’ll actually be a big safety improvement because you get a lot of accidents when drivers are tired behind the wheel” ... The Tesla Semi and Tesla Minibus are scheduled to be unveiled in three to six months, with production starting in two to three years. When the Tesla Semi does come to market, safety and lowered cargo transport costs are likely to have a greater impact on its success than being ‘fun to operate’ for former drivers... 
(Image: For the Tesla semi, instead of a ‘skateboard’ type chassis, they’ll work with a base chassis that’s closer to a conventional truck, but undersling several large battery packs low, as well as using the under-hood area for more battery storage) -- - Digital Trends, by Bruce Brown - November 9, 2016

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Robotic Truck Platooning * Holland: 30 Times Faster than Human Reaction Time

* Eindhoven - Showcasing the progress of secure intelligent transport systems
--- NXP Semiconductors N.V. and its partners are showcasing the progress of secure intelligent transport systems in advance of this year’s electronica show in Munich. The demonstrations include platooning live on Munich roads, traffic signal and vehicle synchronization, and technology that protects vulnerable road users based on secure vehicle-to-everything technology (V2X). NXP and DAF Trucks have also announced plans to empower truck platoons to react 30 times faster than humans in 2017. Achieving this goal would mark a significant milestone in the introduction of platooning to fleet operators who expect considerable efficiency and safety gains while maintaining a maximum level of data security...


(Source: NXP - Radar can detect a car cutting in faster and more accurately) 
... NXP, DAF Trucks, TNO and Ricardo previously achieved a breakthrough truck platooning distance of 0.5 seconds between trucks. While platooning at 80 km per hour, trucks that were linked wirelessly via V2X technology, along with high-performance camera and radar systems, were able to maintain a distance of 11 meters flawlessly. The consortium is now cooperating to further bring down the minimum distance between trucks by another 40 percent (to 0.3 seconds which equals 7 meters at 80 km/h). In this new context, the platooning system will need to reliably react 30 times faster than a human driver. This requires the wireless communication between trucks to take place in the timeframe of milliseconds... Current rules require 50 meters between trucks, versus autonomous platooning, in which 11 meters is already possible... 
Eindhoven, Países Bajos - Next Big Future - November 07, 2016

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Oct 29, 2016

SELF DRIVING TRUCKS * USA: Rules discussions

* DC - Trucking industry wants seat at self-driving table

--- The trucking industry is pushing for a seat at the table as new rules to allow self-driving cars to operate on U.S. roads are being developed... American Trucking Associations President, Chris Spear, said during an event at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday that “the lion’s share” of self-driving guidance recently was released by the U.S. Department of Transportation focused on automakers... “Our industry was not included in that process, despite what was said. We were never at the table, we never had any input,” Spear said during a panel discussion on self-driving organized by the Securing America’s Future Energy group, also known as SAFE... Just this week, Anheuser-Busch announced that it had completed the world’s first commercial shipment by self-driving truck, sending a beer-filled tractor-trailer on a journey of more than 120 miles through Colorado... Spear said Wednesday that regulators should also be thinking about the benefits of self-driving trucks. He cited a fatal crash between a Tesla vehicle that was being operated in “Autopilot” mode that collided with a semi-trailer that turned left in front of the car, saying the accident could have avoided if both vehicles were autonomous... Spear said he doesn’t foresee trucks being operated completely autonomously any time in the near future, despite the potential safety benefits he touted Wednesday... 
(Photo: (1) Tractor-trailer turns left in front of Tesla; (2) Tesla fails to brake and collides windshield-first with truck)   --  Washington, DC, USA - The Detroit News, by Keith Laing - October 26, 2016

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Oct 27, 2016

UBER SELF DRIVING TRUCK * USA - First delivery: Budweiser beer

* Colorado - Uber self-driving truck loaded up with Budweiser makes first delivery
--- A tractor trailer full of beer drove itself down Colorado's I-25 last week with nobody behind the wheel... Uber Technologies and Anheuser-Busch InBev NV teamed up on the delivery, which they said is the first time a self-driving truck had been used to make a commercial shipment... With a police cruiser in tow, the 18-wheeler cruised more than 120 miles (193 km) while a truck driver hung out back in the sleeper cab, the companies said... The delivery appears to be mostly a stunt — proof that Otto, the self-driving vehicle group that Uber acquired in July, could successfully put an autonomous truck into the wild... Said Lior Ron, the president and co-founder of Uber's Otto unit, Uber does not plan to build its own trucks and instead wants to partner with car makers, as it's doing with Volvo on self-driving cars. He said the company's discussions with truck makers are in early phases... The software still has a long way to go, too. The autonomous drive in Colorado was limited to the highway, meaning truck drivers shouldn't have to worry about finding a new profession anytime soon...
 (Photo by Kyle Bullington: With a police cruiser in tow, the 18-wheeler cruised more than 120 miles -193 km- while a truck driver hung out back in the sleeper cab)   --  Denver, COL, USA - Financial Review, by Eric Newcomer and Alex Webb - Oct 26 2016

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Sep 14, 2016

SELF DRIVING TRUCKS * USA - Truckers: "But are we sceptical? ... Yes"

* California - The laughable reality of self-driving trucks

--- Walt Martin spent a decade as a long-haul truck driver, logging as many as 200,000 miles a year on the road... Now he's back on the highway in the driver's seat of a Volvo big rig, cruising the 280 freeway just south of town... Only he's not driving — that task is being handled by self-driving truck technology built by Martin's new employer, Otto. The 8-month-old start-up founded by Google Car veterans was just bought by ride-hailing giant Uber for $US670 million ($886.4 million)... "Is this all intriguing and promising? Yes," says Sean McNally, spokesman for the American Trucking Associations. "But are we sceptical? Yes" ... But trucking professionals aren't so sure. For reasons ranging from highway speeds to varying cargo requirements, trucking experts literally burst out laughing when asked about the notion of a driver sleeping while his truck barrels across a lonely state... ATA spokesman McNally stresses that, depending on the type of cargo that's being hauled, a driver might be required to constantly monitor his load's safety. That would make going to sleep impossible. He also adds that a regulatory framework that applies to all 50 states would be critical to making interstate self-driving trucking a reality... 
(Photo by TONY AVELAR - Matt Grigsby, senior program engineer at Otto, takes his hands off the steering wheel of the self-driving, big-rig truck during a demonstration on the highway, last month in San Francisco)   --  San Francisco, CAL, USA - The Financial Review (Australia), by Marco della Cava - 13 Sept 2016

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Sep 3, 2016

WHY SELF DRIVING TRUCKS ? * USA

* California - Why they may be the next big thing on the road ?

--- On Interstate 280 outside San Francisco, towering white Volvo semitrucks have been driving themselves around for months–under the careful supervision of humans in the cab. Otto, a startup founded by automation experts eager to get their inventions out of the lab and onto the road, has been working to reinvent commercial trucking since it was founded in January. And in August, ride-sharing giant Uber announced it was acquiring Otto and its 91 employees in a deal worth an estimated $680 million... Weeks earlier, it sold its Chinese division to market leader Didi Chuxing, getting a hefty stake in return. Didi had previously forged a partnership with Uber’s bitter U.S. rival Lyft, which has reportedly held talks to sell itself to Google–a company with its own ambitious self-driving-car division–or General Motors, which invested $500 million in Lyft earlier this year with avowals that the two would automate ride-sharing vehicles together. (Lyft executives deny that they have shopped the company around.) ... Many in the automotive and technology worlds are convinced that self-driving vehicles are the future. But who gets there first (old-line automakers, new-economy startups) and how (by selling passenger cars, taxi services, commercial vehicles) is still unclear. Because self-driving ventures tend to draw on a relatively concentrated pool of engineers, executives and investors, the nascent field has rapidly become a small but tightly bound web of connections... For now, courting potential problems is the point... It may not yet be clear what the future of automated transport will look like, but the industry’s innovators want to get there fast...
 (Photo: Trucker with digital tablet on autonomous truck)  --  Silicon Valley, CAL, USA - TIME, by Katy Steinmetz - Sept. 1, 2016

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Jul 28, 2016

SELF DRIVING BIG TRUCKS * USA: "Otto" branded

* California - Ex-Googlers building the self-driving big rig trucks of the future

 (Video from Otto - May 16, 2016: Meet Otto, the company behind new self-driving trucking technology. Join us for the journey) 

--- Ex-Googler, Lior Ron, latest professional turn involves helping fit some of the 4.3 million trucks on U.S. roadways with the technology kits his new startup Otto is developing that can turn those hulking rigs into completely autonomous trucks. Because while commercial trucks may be something of an unsexy progression coming from software engineering at a place like Google, they nevertheless represent a potent technology challenge for the team at Otto, a young startup with abundant ambition that operates out of a space in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood... Anthony Levandowski, was also a co-founder and technical lead for Google’s self-driving car project... The rest of Otto’s 40-strong team comes from companies like Google, Tesla and Apple. It’s a contingent of talent racing toward the same autonomous future that big tech companies want to hasten with their myriad self-driving car efforts... Safely, of course, being the operative word, at a time when concern has mounted over autonomous driving technology thanks to a recent Tesla fatality. Ron, though, insists the data is on Otto’s side... Where Otto breaks ranks with some supporters of semi-autonomous driving technology — where humans, essentially, can take the wheel if needed — is in Otto’s insistence that it’s safer for humans not to be involved at all. If a driver isn’t actively engaged in the act of driving, Otto believes that driver shouldn’t be expected to jump on the wheel with possibly a split-second’s warning, Ron said... So far, Otto has outfitted four trucks with its kit and has been testing the self-driving capabilities on highways in California. Otto’s technology includes sensors it’s built that sit on top of the truck, in addition to self-driving software... The company says its in-truck computer system and software are able to executive real-time driving decisions based on readings from the sensors...
San Francisco, CAL, USA - BGR, by Andy Meek - Jul 25, 2016

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Jul 1, 2016

TESLA CARS' FIRST SELF-DRIVING FATAL CRASH * USA

NHTSA probes Tesla self-driving cars after fatal crash

--- Federal regulators are investigating self-driving technology used in Tesla cars after a fatal crash involving a 2015 Tesla Model S that was operating with its automated driving system activated... It is believed to be the first U.S. death in a vehicle engaged in a semi-autonomous driving feature, though the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would not confirm that... NHTSA said Thursday it received reports from Tesla about a crash in Williston, Florida, near Gainesville, on May 7 with the vehicle operating in its “Autopilot” mode... NHTSA said preliminary reports say the crash happened when a semi-trailer rig turned left in front of the Tesla at a highway intersection. Police said the roof of the car struck the underside of the trailer and the car passed beneath. The car went off the road, striking two wire fences and a power pole before coming to a rest about 100 feet away. The driver was dead at the scene... Tesla says more than 130 million miles have been driven by its cars with Autopilot switched on and there has been only one death. By comparison, the company claims there is, on average, a death on US roads for every 94 million miles driven, and worldwide that figure falls to 60 million... When switched on, Autopilot asks the driver to keep their concentration on the road and hands on the wheel. If they do not, then the car will sound an alert. If they continue to keep their hands off the wheel, the car will slow to a stop and switch on the hazzard lights... 
(Photo: Tesla Driver's seath using car's 'Autopilot' was Iivolved in fatal crash, US says)  --  Gainesville, FL, USA - The Detroit New, by Melissa Burden, Keith Laing and Michael Wayland - June 30, 2016

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Jun 26, 2016

SELF DRIVING TRUCKS * USA: MILITARY CONVOY

* Michigan - U.S. Army launches live test of self-driving trucks

--- The U.S. Army tested technology to power a driverless truck convoy along an empty stretch of Michigan highway Thursday as part of the first step toward a network of fully autonomous cars and trucks... The state government’s partnership with Warren, Mich.-based U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, or TARDEC, also raised the possibility that Michigan will be ground zero in developing autonomous technology for commercial trucks... TARDEC is developing its vehicle-to-infrastructure capabilities to increase safety, reduce distracting tasks and carry supplies for soldiers, he said... The four-vehicle convoy of tractor-trailers on Interstate 69, about 40 miles east of Flint, Mich., showed the trucks’ ability to communicate with roadside units set up by the Michigan Department of Transportation. The so-called vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) connectivity is a crucial step toward building a network of autonomous commercial trucks and passenger vehicles... Eventually, V2I will be able to send vehicles information about traffic signals and relay information about collisions on the road, among other data... The Army’s partnership with the state signaled Michigan’s enthusiasm to be seen as a leader in next-generation mobility and innovation... 
 (Photo: U.S. Army - U.S. Army self-driving truck gets ready for a test on a Michigan highway)  --   Warren, MICH, USA - Trucks.com, by JACLYN TROP - June 23, 2016

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Mar 21, 2016

SELF DRIVING CARS ACCIDENTS * USA: They have five times higher accident rate

* California - Study: Driverless cars crashes at five times the rate of conventional cars


-- Even though they haven’t been at fault, self-driving test cars are involved in crashes at five times the rate of conventional cars, a new study finds... Even when the figures are adjusted to take into account that many accidents involving conventional cars go unreported, the study from the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute found that the rate is still twice as high... Yet it notes that it is making the comparison from a tiny pool of autonomous test cars, about 50 of them in California, versus 269 million conventional cars as of 2013. The self-driving cars have logged about 1.2 million miles in total, while the conventionals cumulatively go trillions of miles a year... As a result, the total number of self-driving car accidents being used for comparison is the study is minuscule, 11. But that’s five times the rate of the accident rate in conventional cars, and there’s four times the injury rate, the study finds. In almost every case, the accidents involving self-driving cars have involved other cars crashing into them. They are often traveling at slow speeds... Eight of the 11 crashes occurred last year as more self-driving hit the road in California, where most of the testing is taking place. Despite limitations of the study, “A Preliminary Analysis of Real-World Crashes Involving Self-Driving Vehicles,” it reached some real conclusions. The bottom line: Even though self-driving vehicles were not at fault in any crashes they were involved in and that injuries have of lower severity than for conventional cars, it appears they are getting in more accidents given their numbers...
(Photo by Eric Risberg/AP)  --  CAL, USA - AP/by Mike Winnett Independent Consultant- 1st Nov 2015

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Feb 29, 2016

* SCANIA's SELF-DRIVING TRUCKS * Sweden

* Stockholm - Scania begins testing remote-controlled mining trucks with broader transport goals
-- Swedish truck maker Scania has begun testing specialised mining trucks for autonomous roles with an eye towards container and freight trucking in ‘tomorrow’s transport system’... Developed in conjunction with Swedish researchers, the project focuses on how remote-controlled European prototype vehicles withstand mining conditions at a company test facility and assesses how the vehicles respond without hands on the steering wheel... The self-driving ‘Astator’ vehicles operate with an empty driver’s seat, Scania says, and are carrying out mining simulations of loading and unloading... 
(Photo: A Scania truck being remotely controlled on the test track) -- Södertälje, Sweden - Trade Trucks (Australia) - 29 Feb 2016

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Feb 11, 2016

GOOGLE TRUCKING Co. ? * USA: WITH A FLEET of SELF DRIVING TRUCKS

* California - Google wants to deliver packages from self-driving trucks

(US Patent and Trademark Office: Google’s proposed truck, with pinpad lockers) 

 -- A new patent awarded to Google today suggests that the search giant is looking into developing self-driving delivery trucks, just as Amazon readies its autonomous delivery drone fleet... Google’s patent outlines what it calls an “autonomous delivery platform” for delivery trucks. The trucks would be fitted with a series of lockers that could potentially be unlocked with a PIN code sent to the person waiting for the delivery before the truck arrives at their location. The patent also suggests the locker could be unlocked by a customer’s credit card, or an NFC reader. After the package is dropped off, the truck will continue on to its next delivery point, or return to the depot to pick up more packages...

(AP Photo/David Goldman - No more of this hassle)

 ... While the patent doesn’t go into too much detail about the most difficult aspect of the idea—how the truck will drive itself—it does mention technologies that are reminiscent of what Google is currently using in its self-driving car tests... Although there’s no guarantee that Google is planning to actually roll out a fleet of delivery trucks, this patent dovetails the two announced projects together quite nicely. Google wasn’t immediately available for comment on its plans for the patent... 
Mountain View, CAL, USA - Quartz, by Mike Murphy - February 09, 2016

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