THE CRUNCH
Self-driving truck developers Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI have received a five-year federal exemption that removes a long-standing barrier to commercialising driverless lorries. Under US rules, a human driver who pulls over must activate the hazard lights and place reflective warning triangles on the road within 10 minutes. A driverless truck has no one to do that, which left companies in a regulatory bind. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has now allowed them to replace roadside warning devices with cab-mounted warning beacons.
The requirement was contentious enough that Aurora took federal safety regulators to court. After a court denied its request for an exemption, the company escalated the fight to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, while operating under a temporary waiver. The new exemption resolves that standoff for the next five years.
Executives from both companies welcomed the decision. Daniel Goff, vice president of external affairs at Kodiak AI, said it would help the industry usher in an autonomous era of freight movement on US roads. Aurora's Gerardo Interiano described the high-visibility beacons as a solution that enhances roadside safety by alerting other road users immediately, without putting a person in harm's way.