Big tech companies have been promising an autonomous trucking revolution for years now, but even with billions poured into the technology and thousands of new patents filed over the last five years, manned trucks still will continue to rule the road for the forseeable future.
What stands to change that? A recent report from Patent Forecast, a company that tracks competition and innovation in the intellectual property space, suggests that while competition is heating up among tech firms, and some clear winners and losers may take shape, we're far from full visibility or even an ETA on the delivery of reliable unmanned systems.
Ultimately, even with the blistering pace of tech innovation and adoption, the challenges of real-world driving still require a dedicated driver. In the sections below, see how tech companies are racing to introduce true autonomous trucking and what challenges to that intro remain.
"Patent activity in autonomous vehicles is insanely hot right now and has been over the past three years," read the recent report from Patent Forecast. Issued patents and published applications have exploded in the last four years as the race to true self driving heats up, but the frontrunners in the pack have already begun to consolidate and widen their lead via partnerships.
According to the report, "Whether it be between OEMs and autonomous driving platforms, companies are beginning to realize that an autonomous vehicle is too large for any one company to tackle alone. Instead, more companies have created strategic portfolios to complement their niche."
While partnerships facilitate the fusion of tech and hardware, as well as theory and practice, the real winners of the self-driving truck race will be patent owners, rather than individual fleet or truck owners, according to JiNan Glasgow George, the CEO of Patent Forecast.
"If I give any theme for this report, it's partnerships," she said, noting that automating long-haul trucking simply involves too many moving parts for a single company to address. "We've already seen some successful partnerships, and it's still early."
