Do autonomous trucks need drivers?

 In Starsky Robotics
In Starsky Robotics’ vision of autonomous driving, a driver would sit in a control room and manage multiple vehicles while over-the-road, taking control and driving those vehicles in local, last-mile operations. 

Starsky Robotics’ says its approach would create more local jobs for drivers 

There is a lot of fear among drivers that they are being displaced by autonomous vehicles, and plenty of companies building these vehicles are looking to do just that. But one company is approaching the autonomous space with an eye on keeping drivers employed and improving their lives.

Starsky Robotics jumped into the limelight earlier this year with its exit from stealth mode and debuted its vision of the autonomous truck. And unlike competitors such as Uber’s Otto, Daimler Truck’s Freightliner Inspiration tractor, or Embark, Starsky is not building a self-driving truck that removes the driver from the vehicle altogether. Instead, it is building a retrofit kit that it said will keep drivers employed, just not in the truck.


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Brian Straight

Brian Straight leads FreightWaves' Modern Shipper brand as Managing Editor. A journalism graduate of the University of Rhode Island, he has covered everything from a presidential election, to professional sports and Little League baseball, and for more than 10 years has covered trucking and logistics. Before joining FreightWaves, he was previously responsible for the editorial quality and production of Fleet Owner magazine and fleetowner.com. Brian lives in Connecticut with his wife and two kids and spends his time coaching his son’s baseball team, golfing with his daughter, and pursuing his never-ending quest to become a professional bowler. You can reach him at bstraight@freightwaves.com.