Autonomous Trucks, Challenges of Social and Legal Acceptance

Over the past years, the trucking industry has experienced several changes with respect to its operations and the kind of trucks introduced in the market. Technology is evolving in all sectors, and the trucking industry is not exempted from this. Autonomous trucking technology is progressing, and fully autonomous trucks are the future to look out for. However, the deployment and acceptance of fully autonomous trucks is not easy and has many technical, social, and legal challenges that need to be addressed. Many engineers are working extensively to solve technical challenges in the deployment of fully autonomous trucks. But there are social and legal challenges beyond the engineering capabilities that require collective efforts from all the stakeholders like governing bodies, original equipment manufacturers (OEM), suppliers, virtual driver manufacturers, and regulators to leverage the potential of the technology to address these challenges. Through this paper, the authors attempt to suggest possible solutions to the autonomous trucks\u27 social and legal acceptance challenges. The technologies considered for research are Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), vehicle network technologies (VANET), and intelligent management systems. Further, to reflect the possible solutions and better understand the concepts and challenges from the industry perspective, the authors interviewed a subject matter expert from the autonomous trucking industry. Based on this qualitative data, authors reflect on the situations in the trucking industry by giving scope for further research in validating the possible solutions suggested