Waymo Autonomous Trucks Reenter Arizona Freeways

Waymo has announced that its self-driving trucks are returning to Arizona freeways, which means that the robo rig testing is being restarted in the Phoenix area. The previous testing was carried out by the company in 2017 in the same area, later the semi-trucks were herded into Atlanta, Georgia to continue sharpening their capabilities. Now the large autonomous vehicles are coming back to Arizona for further testing phase.

Waymo’s trucks are fully self-driven, reflecting the company’s technological progress and its potential that is also visible in its smaller vehicles. Because autonomous vehicles don’t involve human control as normal vehicles do, they need detailed data about the area in which they will operate, which is why Waymo conducted its initial testing for its trucks in Arizona.

The news about the testing was first appeared Wednesday on Twitter when Waymo’s official account revealed the company’s plan to put its self-driving trucks back on the Phoenix freeways. In terms of appearance, these big vehicles have almost no difference from regular semi trucks. You will find no distinction except the Waymo logos that these vehicles have.

In March last year, Waymo announced that it would bring its self-driving trucks to Atlanta, Georgia after the initial Arizona testing in 2017 had given the company a number of satisfying results. Now the tech heavyweight has decided to resume the testing in Arizona to reach further progress. The latter is the same place where Waymo’s taxi service operates and its self-driving minivans are being tested.

Initially, the semi-trucks will be redeployed with two human drivers per unit, that’s what the tech company told CBS News. Many worry that the advancements of these technologies will make a lot of people lose their jobs, but endorsers argue that autonomous vehicles cannot fully operate on their own. They basically still need human operators to maintain them and ensure their survival.