Postal Service experiments with driverless mail trucks
One of the trucks being used in the trial.
TuSimple
The U.S. Postal Service is making a move into autonomous long-haul trucking. In a limited trial, it will run five round-trip routes on interstate highways between Dallas and Phoenix.
- The U.S.P.S. is partnering with a San Diego autonomous driving technology company, TuSimple
- Trucks will carry someone who can take the wheel if something goes wrong
- The U.S.P.S. is interested in driverless trucking as a way to cut costs and speed deliveries
- Trucks might be a natural fit for automation — routes are simpler and more repetitive than those traveled by passenger vehicles
- Autonomous trucking is seen as a possible solution to a chronic and growing shortage of long-haul truckers
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