Autonomous vehicles and electric drivetrains have caught much attention over the past two years, with industry upstarts and existing trucking suppliers alike working to develop such tech.
Despite both technologies likely being years away from real-world marketability (though deployment of test units has already begun), which technology do you foresee your fleet adopting first — a diesel-powered truck with autonomous functionality or an electric-powered rig? And why? Sound off in the comments section below or email CCJ Senior Editor James Jaillet at [email protected] with your take.
The two technologies aren’t mutually exclusive, necessarily. Tesla says it intends to include some automated functionality within its Semi, for instance. However, companies developing the two emerging systems seem to be concentrating on one or the other, at least for now. Most autonomous developers are retrofitting their tech to existing diesel-powered trucks, while most electric developers haven’t much mentioned autonomous capabilities. Legacy trucking manufacturers are also working on their own iterations of autonomous and electric platforms.