Google’s Waymo kicks off early testing of self-driving trucks: Report

With self-driving vehicles slated to become a definite reality in the next couple years, the tech and automobile giants are no longer only looking to outfit cars with this technology. Some of these, like Uber and Waymo, have already kicked off on-road public trials of these cars and now plan on introducing the same autonomous capabilities in semi-trucks as well.

While Uber has already acquired a self-driving truck venture, Otto, and conducted a handful of trials across the U.S, its fiercest rival Waymo has now also been spotted testing its own autonomous semi-trucks on road. In a fresh report, BuzzFeed News claims that it has spotted Waymo’s self-driving truck in a photograph and then confirmed the existence of the same with the spin-off venture.

In addition to confirming the company’s self-driving truck efforts, the Waymo spokesperson went ahead to dole out some details on the said project. Waymo is currently testing just one vehicle at the moment and that too isn’t being driven by itself. The truck has to be manually driven on public roads to collect massive amounts of data. It is necessary for Google’s spin-off effort — Waymo to again collect data for its trucking venture because if the difference in the build of the vehicles. The system needs to learn about the space it will need to make a stop or turn when required.

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