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In China, autonomous trucking is coming faster than expected. Chinese driverless truck startup Fabu Technology said June 12 that its driverless trucks already have taken part in open road tests and it plans to offer intercity cargo transportation this year, which is expected to radically reshape the nation’s freight transportation market.

WASHINGTON — The looming mainstream deployment of autonomous cars and trucks around the country has the potential to improve traffic safety while reducing congestion along key freight corridors and metropolitan regions, senators on a transportation committee said June 13.

While senators wait for Republican leaders to schedule a vote on an autonomous vehicles bill, a Senate committee will examine the potential impact allowing such vehicles could have on the country’s surface infrastructure.

In an abandoned lot on the outskirts of Sacramento, Calif., R1, a domed gray vehicle half the size of a Toyota Corolla, is practicing driving itself. It stops at stop signs, yields to people, and handles sharp turns, as other self-driving vehicles do on test courses in Silicon Valley, Detroit, and China.

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Transport Topics' new podcast: RoadSigns. Our debut episode focuses on how the trucking industry’s steady and ongoing development of autonomous technology may someday affect truck drivers. Click to listen!

General Motors Co. and Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo rocked the auto industry last week with self-driving deals that will have each deploying thousands of robo-taxis onto U.S. roads over the next 18 months. Ford Motor Co., meanwhile, will continue biding its time.

As truck makers and technology developers work toward introducing vehicles with some level of automated driving features in the years ahead, it will be essential for drivers to have a clear understanding of what those systems can and cannot do and how much they can rely on them.

Advances in sensor technology will play a key role in the development of increasingly sophisticated driver- assist systems and the eventual deployment of self-driving trucks in commercial fleets.

If autonomous vehicles are the future of the trucking industry, what is the future of the truck driver? On the surface, it might appear to some casual observers that automation could soon spell the end of the truck driving profession, but that perception quickly falls apart when examining the current limitations of the technology and the stark realities of trucking’s labor needs.

The advent of automated driving technology is poised to transform the trucking industry in the years and decades to come, but it is clear that autonomous trucks will not be ready to handle all driving tasks and conditions anytime soon.