It was hauling 40,000 pounds of the finest table-butter across 2,800 miles of the United States (US). The difference – the truck carrying the cargo was an autonomous one, without a driver. The cargo was Land O’Lakes butter.
According to a report in ZDNet, the L4 autonomous truck left from Tulare, CA, en route to Quakertown, PA. In all the drive took less than three days. According to Plus.ai, the company behind the autonomous technology stack that powered the truck, this is “the first L4 U.S. cross-country commercial pilot hauling a fully-loaded refrigerated trailer of perishable cargo.”
The truck was equipped with an impressive sensor suite, deep learning algorithm, and simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) technologies. Plus.ai provided the technology stack and is working with major manufacturers to bring autonomy a trucking industry that’s been ailing under a labor shortage.
Image Credit: Plus.ai