Bot Auto Plans Driver-Out Autonomous Trucking Pilot in 2025
The company did not set a specific target date for its driverless launch but said the program will involve continuous autonomous truck runs between Houston and San Antonio while hauling cargo for shippers. (Bot Auto)
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Autonomous trucking startup Bot Auto announced that it intends to begin its first driver-out commercial freight operations this year with a pilot program in Texas.
The company did not set a specific target date for its driverless launch but said the program will involve continuous autonomous truck runs between Houston and San Antonio while hauling cargo for shippers.
Xiaodi Hou, Bot Auto’s founder and CEO, said the goal is not simply to demonstrate unmanned trucks on public roads, but to build the business case for autonomous trucking in a real-world setting.
RELATED:Ex-TuSimple CEO Hou Re-Enters Autonomous Trucking Fray
“We are plugging ourselves into the real trucking transportation system,” he said.
The planned driver-out program will run for at least four months with a fleet of five to 10 trucks capable of operating without a safety driver behind the wheel, he said.
Bot Auto founder and CEO Xiaodi Hou said he does not believe autonomous trucks built on OEM assembly lines are inherently safer than retrofits. (Bot Auto)
After this period of deployment, Bot Auto plans to further refine its system based on its learnings, the Houston-based startup said in its March 4 announcement.
For Hou, self-driving trucks have already moved beyond the technical demonstration phase. His previous autonomous trucking venture, TuSimple, conducted a driverless truck run in Arizona in late 2021.
Instead, the biggest challenge for autonomous truck developers to overcome today is achieving a cost per mile that surpasses manually driven trucks and proves the commercial value
