Automated semi trucks could soon be traveling on I-70 between Indianapolis, Indiana, and Columbus, Ohio, thanks to an initiative by DriveOhio and each state’s Department of Transportation.
DriveOhio has announced a four-year-long, $8 million dollar plan to bring automated semi trucks to Ohio roads, according to a report by WDTN.
The automated semis will reportedly begin on a 166-mile stretch of I-70 between Indianapolis and Columbus, which has been dubbed the “Automation Corridor.”
“The goal of this project is to examine how this technology might be able to scale in the future to potentially address the truck driver shortage that we’re seeing and how we might be able to use technology to kind of fill that worker gap,” DriveOhio spokesperson Breanna Badanes said.
“A front truck will control what the follow truck’s movements are, so the front truck will control acceleration and braking, and the follow truck will automatically respond. So, when that technology is engaged, they will be following each other pretty closely,” Badanes added.
Ohio and Indiana’s transportation departments are reportedly collaborating on this project in an attempt to learn how automation can work in a busy area, as well as see how the automated technology handles the oftentimes unpredictable weather of the Midwest.
The semi trucks involved in this project will have a driver inside the vehicle, and will be tested on a closed track before being sent out into the open. There will also be safeguards in place so that the driver can take over and stop the automation in case anything goes wrong.
Tom Milby, vice president of safety for the trucking company Home Run Inc., said that while this could be helpful to the truck driver shortage, it is still better to have a person inside the truck.
“There are way too many things,” Milby said. “Things that happen. So sudden, so fast, that I just don’t know if a computer can actually handle a situation that a human can actually see and take care of.”
Nonetheless, DriveOhio reportedly hopes to have automated semi trucks on the roads as early as the end of 2023 or spring of 2024.
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