Autonomous Truck Inspection Procedures Begin to Take Shape

Providing procedures for state and local Department of Transportation officials to inspect autonomous trucks and verify they’re fit for highway service has been something of a vexing issue for policy makers and the trucking industry at large.

Now, according to a recent report in Transport Topics, it appears real progress is being made in determining how autonomous truck inspections will work in the real world, including what safety points officers will prioritize and how they will determine if a vehicle is safe and road-ready.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is taking the lead on this project, which only makes sense because autonomous truck safety dovetails perfectly with the group’s overall mission to promote and increase commercial vehicle safety in North America.

And, as I’ve speculated in the past in my NACFE Autonomous Blogs, it appears the new guidelines will require new, CVSA-certified vehicle inspectors who will be tasked with eyeballing autonomous trucks before they begin a trip, and at various intervals while the vehicle is in transit. A 40-hour CVSA training course and exam on autonomous truck inspections will be mandatory to qualify these inspectors.

In addition to actual hands-on inspections, CVSA is — both wisely and predictably — also taking advantage of real-time vehicle telematics systems to relay operational updates to law enforcement agencies while the truck is in motion. The information relayed will — at a minimum — include confirmation that the truck passed a safety inspection at the current trip’s point of origin, and at designated inspection points during its trip as well as electronic confirmation that the truck’s autonomous control systems are functioning properly, and that the vehicle is within its operational design domain.

Assuming all is in order, those trucks would then be allowed to bypass fixed inspection sites.

Under this model, any enroute roadside inspections of autonomous vehicles by law enforcement officials would be limited to situations where an imminent hazard is observed or during a post-crash investigation.

Obviously, in order for these — and any other inspections — to take place on the open road, all autonomous vehicles must be able to respond to law enforcement should an officer attempt to pull over a vehicle — an operational consideration that has been deemed mandatory since the very dawn of autonomous truck research and design.

CVSA noted the program is the culmination of a broad effort among the alliance, involving: commercial motor vehicle inspectors and state highway patrols, inspection and enforcement experts, motor carrier representatives, the autonomous trucking development community, and federal and state government officials.

I think the news is significant because it is yet another sign that we are fast approaching the time when autonomous trucks will begin hauling freight for private companies, on public roads, surrounded by private citizens in passenger cars.

But that cannot happen until critical procedural and policy criteria for law enforcement interaction with autonomous trucks have been worked out in a way that will work in the real world.

There still are vital issues to be worked out, of course. For example, what kind of equipment will law enforcement officers have to have in order to initiate contact with an autonomous truck and either download operating and safety telemetry from it, and/or order it to pull over for a more detailed inspection? And, to that end, what industry standard systems and protocols will be mandatory on autonomous trucks to facilitate those commands and activities?

These questions — and many others that are sure to arise — are certain to be worked out in the coming months and years. But the fact that serious policy work is starting to take shape on a national scale is a sure sign that autonomous technology is growing nearer toward real-world deployment some time in the next few years.