US Postal Administration Has Begun Testing Autonomous Trucks in the United States

US Postal Administration has begun to carry out a tentative transport of postal items in three Southwest states using autonomous trucks for that purpose. This is another step in the implementation of this freight transport technology.

Based in San Diego, California startup company "TuSimple" said the autonomous trucks began to transport mail between stations in Phoenix, Arizona and Dallas, Texas. The objective is to assess how autonomous technology can optimize delivery times and costs. For security reasons, a driver is in the driver's seat to intervene if a need arises, and an engineer travels to the passenger seat. If the tests pass successfully, this will be a major advance for the autonomous vehicle industry and a possible solution to the shortage of drivers and regulatory constraints in the carriers sector.

The pilot program is limited, just five runs in late May. For TuSimple, the test drives are a chance to validate its vision of autonomous semis changing the dynamics and costs of long-haul trucking. The start-up has been hauling freight on I-10 in self-driving trucks since August. TuSimple, with 17 self-driving semis, has raised $178 million in four rounds of funding since it was founded in 2015, CNBC reported.

“Performing for the USPS on this pilot in this particular commercial corridor gives us specific use cases to help us validate our system, and expedite the technological development and commercialization progress,” said Xiaodi Hou, founder, president and chief technology officer of TuSimple.