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Comment by mikestew | Hacker News Reader

Aurora seems to be flying under the radar, this is the first I've heard of them. They seem to be actually deploying trucks, and not just smoke and mirrors.

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I have long thought that fixed distance trucking is the most approachable self driving outcome. Do not attempt the billion messy real world scenarios which occur in urban environments when surrounded by humans.

Make a few hubs that are well outside of city centers that are connected by nothing but straight interstate. AI can drive the truck on this boring fixed route. Humans then take over the short distance to bring it to the actual delivery location.

congratulations! you're invented an inefficient railway

The US already has the best freight rail network in the world my many measures but you can't put every shipment on a train.

Do you think long haul trucking does not exist today? Use a train when you can, but that is not always an option.

There's no operating rail between LA and Phoenix, freight or passenger. Union Pacific rerouted freight away from Phoenix decades ago, Amtrak followed suit, and the previously used rail line that connected LA and Phoenix is out of service. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Subdivision_(Union_Pac... and https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html

The highest volume OTR shipping lane is LA to Phoenix, which is already the perfect place for self driving vehicles.

I've been saying for years, trucks should drive autonomously from one mega parking lot outside a city to another at nighttime, and have humans handle the last mile during the 7-3 shift.

Do these trucks actually drive themselves into a warehouse, and back into an empty spot? Can they actually navigate cities? Or only on the interstates? What kind of loads are they carrying? Can they navigate mountain passes? How much of the entire trip is actually automated? They never answer any of these questions, and make it sound like they can drive anywhere, any time. But it seems to me more like they are on predefined routes, limited to certain destinations. Maybe even someone picks up the truck at an off ramp and drives it into the city. That's not a bad thing, but they are so sketchy the way they don't give any details. It makes it hard for me to believe half this stuff.

> Can they actually navigate cities? Or only on the interstates? What kind of loads are they carrying? Can they navigate mountain passes? How much of the entire trip is actually automated? They never answer any of these questions, and make it sound like they can drive anywhere, any time.

See Waymo. Answering these questions will make the investors run away.

Basically, a highway is the best place for selfdriving cars. Cities are difficult even for selfdriving cars (Waymo).

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