By Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror
Automated semi-trucks are a fairly new development in Arizona.
They’ve been operating in the state for just about a year, but the technology is already having major impacts, despite the law moving at a vastly different pace than the computerized 18-wheelers currently making trips between Tucson and Phoenix.
“If we can’t get these vehicles to cross state lines, then we have a problem,” K. Larry Head, a professor at the University of Arizona and a member of the state’s Self-Driving Vehicle Oversight Committee, said.
Last month, self-driving semi-truck start-up TuSimple announced it will begin delivering mail from Phoenix to Dallas, a 1,000-mile trip as part of a partnership with UPS.
Since May, autonomous TuSimple trucks have already been making a 115-mile journey on Interstate 10 between Tucson and Phoenix delivering mail. On Aug. 15, UPS’s venture capital arm announced it was making an investment in the company.
