JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
AI is making lots of people wonder whether technology will take our jobs. Well, truck drivers, they've been wondering that for a while. Yesterday, we reported on how technology can make big rigs easier to drive. Today, we gave you the flip side. Could tech take humans out of the driver's seat altogether? NPR's Camila Domonoske takes us for a ride through Texas in a driverless truck.
CAMILA DOMONOSKE, BYLINE: So we are currently bouncing along down the highway. We're heading south from Dallas. AJ has got his hands resting on his legs. Oh, he's got his hands behind his head now.
(LAUGHTER)
DOMONOSKE: The steering wheel is making little adjustments.
That's me in the cab of an 18-wheeler from Aurora Tech. And AJ is longtime truck driver AJ Jenkins (ph).
AJ JENKINS: Oh, I love driving. I really do.
DOMONOSKE: Today, though, his feet were not on the pedals, and his hands were not on the steering wheel. The truck was driving itself. Jenkins used to be a driving instructor, and in a way, he helped teach this truck to drive. He would drive while the computer observed. And his patterns helped train this autonomous system the company calls the Aurora driver.
JENKINS: They took the logs of me driving, and other drivers as well, taught the Aurora driver through simulation with our data, our manual data.
DOMONOSKE: Now it's the other way around. The computer is driving and Jenkins is watching. His official job title is observer. I'd expected screens all over, showing what the truck could see with its cameras and radar. But there's not meant to be anyone in the cab, so no screens.
(SOUNDBITE OF BLINKER CLICKING)
DOMONOSKE: The truck turned on its blinker.
JENKINS: We just actually moved over into the left lane just to make room for these people who were merging.
DOMONOSKE: It gave the car more space.
JENKINS: We try to be the most courteous truck on the road.
DOMONOSKE: Aurora is one of several companies racing to make money off driverless big rigs. Texas is the hot spot for their tests. Aurora is shipping cargo on Texas highways right now, things like flooring, drinks and packages. Most drivers the truck passes probably don't notice the extra cameras or the word autonomous printed on its side.
JENKINS: It's just another truck.
DOMONOSKE: At this point, with autonomous trucks moving at high speeds on busy highways, you might have some questions about safety. Some truck drivers do.
AARON ISAACS: Computers don't work all the time. You know, there's no technology that is 100% proven to work all of the time every single day.
DOMONOSKE: That's Aaron Isaacs, a member of the Teamsters union.
ISAACS: I mean, they can't even make cellphones that you don't lose coverage every 20 miles down the freeway.
DOMONOSKE: Aurora president Ossa Fisher says the truck is safer than a human driver, with backup systems and extensive testing on roads and in simulations.
OSSA FISHER: We've tested everything possible going wrong with the truck or the surrounding area.
DOMONOSKE: For truckers like Isaacs, in addition to safety, another big worry is jobs.
ISAACS: So when you start taking drivers out of trucks, you're taking food off of people's tables. You're taking the braces out of that kid's mouth.
DOMONOSKE: Not so, argues Fisher, who says companies have trouble filling trucking jobs as it is.
FISHER: If you are a truck driver today, you will be and your services will be in demand until the day you choose to retire.
DOMONOSKE: As a self-driving trucking company, Aurora is currently focused on very long highway drives where the driving is simpler and it's an advantage to have a driver that never sleeps. But I asked Fisher, in the long run, how much of trucking could be automated? Like, all of it?
FISHER: Certainly, in the arc of civilization, vehicles like this will be fully autonomous. And we'll thank our lucky stars that they are.
DOMONOSKE: But when in the arc of civilization? She wouldn't put a year to that.
Camila Domonoske, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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