Franglais:
Id guess the sensors, other hardware, plus the software are all bought in, so Id not be surprised. Just wondering if there are any different systems out there?
Pretty much every truck manufacturer out there is developing and testing autonomous trucks. The systems are all the same, as you’ve suggested, they’re a mix of LIDAR, Ultrasonic senors and Video Cameras. I’m sure there are other sensors and methods, but they’re the most popular.
As for who’s out there and what’s out there, these are the ones that I know about the look promising:
Volvo - Volvo have long been developing autonomous vehicles. Their most recent effort is a joint venture to have garbage trucks running around in Sweden as a semi-autonomous test.
A human driver will do the majority of the driving, but the vehicle will autonomously back up down residential streets as they collect garbage from each house. The idea is to reduce
driving errors while reversing and to reduce the amount of guys needed in a trash crew. I’m sure they’re developing something for the general haulage industry, but I haven’t seen or
heard anything solid, as yet. The already have mining vehicles automated (as do Cat) but obviously this isn’t highway driving, which is what we’re interested in.
As a side note all the major plays in the heavy equipment industry (Cat, Kubota et al) have offerings to retrofit existing kit to be autonomous and are designing new kit to be autonomous from
the go (no operators cab, just servicing access!)
Waymo - Owned by Alphabet (who also own Google), the press has been excitability reporting about their endeavors to compete will Uber in the driver-less taxi market, but the CEO of Waymo
has already said that they’re not only developing a solution for trucks but are saying that the trucking element is something they’re pushing to complete development first. He’s effectively
intimated that they’re deeper into development than previously announced. Indeed they’re testing on US roads right now.
Another side note, Google is big in Artificial Intelligence and is using it’s experience with Deepmind to help Rolls Royse develop self-piloting ships.
Otto - Owned by Uber, again, testing on US public roads at the moment they have a decent system that’s already been used for one test delivery. Interestingly enough they’re not developing
a specific truck, but rather a kit that will be sold to operators which can be retrofitted to any tractor unit.
Daimler - Again, US centric they’re testing an autonomous freightliner in the US, Nevada no less. I would expect that the tech will eventually make into a future Actros possibly!
Tesla - Everyones probably heard about the electric truck they’re unveiling next month, but what you can bet with a great certainty is that it’ll come with sensors and tech already embedded into it that will enable Autopilot (as per their Model S and X cars). They’re very open about automation and they’ll follow the same route, provide driver monitored Autopilot and gather real-world
data from the driving experience and learn from that data. Trucks will be no different. In fact Tesla might have an advantage as they already probably have a massive dataset from their
cars, which they can use towards it’s autonomous truck driving aspirations. Nothing has been announce officially, we’ll have to wait until November 16th for that!
Although there is a US focus on the tech, at the moment, you can bet it’s hitting the UK soon. There is already testing that will go forward next year for autonomous trucks to form platoons.
As manufacturer built more driver assist tech into their vehicles they’ll gain more experience and data to push for full automation.
I’ve probably missed some aspects, but I’m doing this brain-dump from recent memory.