Autonomous truck tech specialist Plus.ai has completed the USA’s first cross-country commercial freight run by a self-driving truck
The freight run took three days, covering the 2,800 miles (4,500km) between Tulare, California, and Quakertown, Philadelphia. It was the first level-4 US cross-country commercial pilot hauling a fully loaded refrigerated trailer of perishable cargo.
The truck was equipped with Plus.ai’s advanced autonomous driving system, which uses multimodal sensor fusion, deep learning visual algorithms, and simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) technologies. The journey was an important milestone in validating the system’s ability to safely handle a wide range of weather and road conditions. The vehicle drove primarily in autonomous mode on Interstate 15 and Interstate 70, passing through varied terrains and weather conditions. A safety driver was on board at all times to monitor and assume control if needed, and a safety engineer was present to monitor system operations.
“This cross-country freight run shows the safety, efficiency and maturity of our autonomous trucks, which are already delivering freight for other partners several days a week,” said Shawn Kerrigan, COO and co-founder of Plus.ai. “Continued advances in our autonomous trucks will make it possible for these quick cross-country runs to be the norm in the future. We are excited to demonstrate what our technology can already achieve today while meeting rigorous autonomous driving safety and food transportation compliance standards.”