Waymo to Pilot Autonomous Big Rigs in Atlanta

Drivers in Atlanta will presently share the highways with autonomous trucks.

Waymo's bright bluish autonomous trucks will hit the highways of Atlanta starting side by side week, shuttling cargo jump for Google'south information centers. During the pilot, a trained human driver volition sit down behind the cycle, ready to take over, if necessary.

"Atlanta is one of the biggest logistics hubs in the country, making it a natural dwelling for Google'due south logistical operations and the perfect environs for our next phase of testing Waymo'southward cocky-driving trucks," the Waymo squad wrote in a Friday blog mail. "This pilot, in partnership with Google's logistics team, will let us further develop our engineering and integrate it into the operations of shippers and carriers, with their network of factories, distribution centers, ports and terminals."

Waymo self-driving truck

Waymo, which shares a parent company—Alphabet—with Google, has already been testing its self-driving trucks in California and Arizona for the past twelvemonth.

"Our software is learning to drive large rigs in much the aforementioned way a human being driver would afterwards years of driving passenger cars," the company wrote. "The principles are the aforementioned, but things similar braking, turning, and bullheaded spots are different with a fully-loaded truck and trailer."

Rival Uber this week said its self-driving tucks have been operating on highways in Arizona for several months. Uber and Waymo recently reached a settlement in their legal battle over self-driving merchandise secrets. As part of the deal, Waymo got a 0.34 percent stake in Uber worth about $245 million.

Nearly Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo is PCMag'south expert on fitness and smart home products. Pedagogy yoga for nearly 10 years has helped her in evaluating a range of connected health products including fitness trackers, heart rate monitors, rowers, smart scales, stationary bikes, strength training machines, treadmills, and more than. Angela besides tests smart dwelling devices from her ranch in Florida, including air purifiers, kitchen appliances, and robot vacuums, just to name a few.