In road conditions where snow accumulation reached 1 inch, Embark said its internal analysis showed it could complete 9 in 10 runs within "acceptable" delivery windows.
Details from the company's winter testing were one of a number of developments this week across the self-driving truck realm. Among others:
- Aurora rolled out a partnership with logistics company Covenant, which concentrates on expedited shipping. The two companies are looking at using Aurora's self-driving system on routes where two human drivers typically are needed to meet federal hours-of-service requirements.
- Kodiak Robotics detailed its progress in operating trucks with faulty equipment, training them to successfully pull onto the highway shoulder when problems arise.
- Plus started a partnership with fleet solutions company Velociti that involves retrofitting Class 8 trucks with automated driving systems, software and sensors. Each retrofit is expected to take less than a day.
The trial by Embark, which separately unveiled a partnership with logistics giant U.S. Xpress this week, may be the most notable and extensive Class 8 truck autonomous snow testing in the industry to date.
Beyond the real-world miles, which were traveled with a human safety driver aboard, the collected data was used to develop a weather model that contains more than 8 billion historical weather-related data points on major interstates dating back more than 10 years.
Determining what constitutes safe thresholds for autonomous systems driving in snow remains a key question for commercial operations. For now, Embark has demonstrated an early glimpse of commercial possibilities beyond the Sun Belt.
