PARTNERS IN BUSINESS TABLE OF CONTENTS »
Protect your career by following regulations, practicing safe driving and using data to your advantage
The 2015 debut of the Freightliner Inspiration, the industry’s first road-legal autonomous truck, raised many questions about its implications for where the industry is headed. Perhaps the biggest question for drivers concerns job security. For vehicles such as the Inspiration, operating at a moderate level of autonomy, a driver is required behind the wheel. When there is a need for changing lanes, parking or other circumstances that require common sense and quick judgment, the truck screams for help and turns control over to the driver. That driver needs the same level of driving experience as today’s owner-operators.
So there are many developments yet to come before we see a safe network of completely autonomous vehicles. These developments are needed in regulations, highway infrastructure and integration of autonomous technology in other vehicles. Even as these things evolve, technology will still require a driver behind the wheel.
TRUCK REGISTRATION
Before you legally can operate a commercial vehicle in interstate or intrastate commerce, you must comply with certain regulations. For the owner-operator, it starts with truck registration.
