Third-party validation: Table stakes for driverless trucking [Video]

In light of Aurora Innovation’s decision to push out commercial driverless trucking until next spring, it’s worth revisiting how third-party validation is becoming a price of entry for autonomous technology. Much of the public still fears it and would-be users know little about it.

Middle-mile autonomous business-to-business logistics leader Gatik and distribution yard autonomy startup Outrider understand their word about safety may not be good enough to earn customer and public trust. AAA’s latest survey on autonomous vehicles found U.S. drivers express either fear (66%) or uncertainty (25%) about fully self-driving vehicles. 

Gatik hired 150-year-old evaluator TÜV SÜD America and software provider Edge Case Research. They reviewed more than 700 safety elements on Isuzu trucks. Some run without safety drivers on short-route routes to and from distribution centers and retail stores.

The review covers TÜV SÜD’s six pillars of safety: safe testing, organizational safety culture, engineering quality – how the self-driving system functions, behaves and …