Analysis: Driverless vehicles on limited routes bump along despite US robotaxi scrutiny

Aurora Innovation

13/12/2023 11:00

By Abhirup Roy
       SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 13 (Reuters) - A quest for lower
costs and efficiently moving goods and groups of people is
pushing demand for driverless technology in trucks and shuttles,
even as robotaxis battle renewed doubts after an October
accident involving a General Motors  GM.N  Cruise car.    
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Aurora  AUR.O  and California
startup Gatik are among companies developing self-driving
technology for vehicles that operate on set routes and have
largely managed to avoid the public ire robotaxis have faced on
busy city streets. 
    This has helped these companies, which mainly develop
autonomous technology to equip vehicles, win large new customers
like IKEA and Walmart  WMT.N , as well as local governments.
    Gatik won grocer Kroger  KR.N  and processed food maker
Tyson Foods  TSN.N  as clients this year. The company operates
traditional midsized trucks fitted with its autonomous
technology that deliver goods on routes that avoid hospitals and
schools, and it has been hiring aggressively and plans to deepen
its presence in several states. 
    Aurora said it is on track to start hauling freight without
a driver between Dallas and Houston by the end of next year.
    "We still think trucking is poised to be the first true
scaling rollout of autonomous technology," said Don Burnette,
CEO of Kodiak Robotics, which runs long-haul autonomous trucks
between Houston and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 
    Burnette said Kodiak was on track next year to start getting
on the road without the safety drivers who currently stay behind
the wheel.
    Limiting the risk of deploying across a densely populated
city, Michigan-based driverless shuttle operator May Mobility
aims to complement or replace human-driven transit systems
within a specific area of a city. It has struck deals with local
authorities.
    Building and commercializing driverless vehicles, especially
robotaxis, has been harder and costlier than initially imagined
and has prompted regulatory concerns, investor anxiety and
public criticism. Detractors complain that robotaxis have
disrupted traffic and put people at risk due to erratic driving
or abrupt stops in the middle of busy roads. 
    The outcry has intensified since an Oct. 2 accident
involving a pedestrian who was dragged 20 feet (6.1 m) by a
Cruise robotaxi after being struck by another vehicle. The
company has paused all trips except a small pilot and hired a
law firm to help it conduct a safety review.
    Cruise has said it was "committed to rebuilding trust" with
regulators."
    Despite recent setbacks for driverless technology this year
and more regulatory focus expected ahead, some companies have
managed to win investments.
    May Mobility and Aurora raised money. Stack AV - launched by
founders of defunct self-driving startup Argo AI which was
backed by Ford  F.N  and Volkswagen  VOWG_p.DE  - has attracted
investments from SoftBank  9984.T .
        
    ROUGH RIDE 
    "There's been a shift towards trucking in terms of the work
being done in autonomy," said David Bruemmer, a board adviser at
the Autonomy Institute, an industry consortium that helps
research and deploy autonomous infrastructure.
    Self-driving trucks and shuttles that are low-speed and
which operate on pre-defined routes, for use in industries such
as port logistics, are seen as more valuable services and less
risky, he said.
    Still, the autonomous trucking industry has not been immune
to challenges.
    Several startups have struggled to continue funding their
quest to develop heavy driverless trucks, slashing jobs and
shutting shops. 
    Truckers and labor unions have called for a ban on
self-driving trucks - some of which weigh over 80,000 pounds
(36,287 kg) - saying they were unsafe and would lead to job
losses.
    The concerns found legislative support in California with a
bill to prevent heavy-duty driverless trucks from operating in
the state, until Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed it in September.
    "Sentiment in the AV (autonomous vehicle) industry is
negative," Gatik CEO Gautam Narang said. More regulatory
scrutiny and discussions around safety are expected in light of
the Cruise incident, he said, and more companies will struggle
next year and only a few will remain standing.
    In July, Alphabet's  GOOGL.O  Waymo - Cruise's rival -
pushed back its autonomous trucking efforts indefinitely. 
    Waymo, which runs robotaxis in San Francisco, Los Angeles
and Phoenix, Arizona, has "taken a measured and incremental
approach in introducing our technology to the public," the
company's chief product officer, Saswat Panigrahi, told Reuters
via email. Waymo plans to soon deploy fully autonomous robotaxis
in Austin, he said.

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 (Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Editing by
Sayantani Ghosh and Matthew Lewis)
 ((abhirup.roy@thomsonreuters.com; +1 415 941 8665;
@abhiruproy30;))