US Long-haul Autonomous Trucking Technology Companies, 2021: Frost Radar Report

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The trucking industry is plagued by driver shortages, higher vehicle prices, fuel price volatility, safety concerns, and performance limitations amid rapidly transforming freight handling, stocking, and distribution practices.

Autonomous driving technologies would help to address some of these challenges by providing a cost-effective and safe mode of freight transport. Major fleets and logistics operators have defined autonomy in their process value chain to reduce costs and ensure long-term market sustainability. Truck manufacturers and customers realize the opportunities that autonomous technology can bring to the trucking industry, but they are also skeptical of practical usability and implementation. Regulations in some US states allow on-road testing of vehicles that are limited to defined levels of autonomy.

Ripe with opportunities, the industry is witnessing the emergence of several start-ups that want to implement full-scale autonomous truck operations on North American roads. Many of these companies are developing end-to-end technology solutions guided by camera and lidar-based vision inputs that are processed through deep learning and artificial intelligence technologies to maneuver and navigate the vehicle automatically. Although autonomous technology is at a nascent stage, implementation in commercial vehicles is seen as more immediately plausible than in passenger vehicles. Start-ups are working on autonomous layers at various stages of the freight handling journey.

Major eCommerce and logistics firms such as Amazon, Walmart, UPS, and Loadsmart are partnering with autonomous technology enablers and are testing their applications on retrofitted trucks. Achieving Level 4 trucking capability will be a major milestone enabling trucks to operate without human intervention at any stage. Although deployment is still distant, Level 4 is the major focal point for manufacturers and start-ups, with several pilot runs and trials already in progress. Level 4 trucks could be commercialized by 2025 and carry about 6.4% of the annual general freight tonnage in the United States by 2030, which will lead to savings of about $4.75 billion in annual freight bills.

The Frost Radar reveals the market positioning of companies in an industry using their Growth and Innovation scores as highlighted in the Frost Radar methodology. The document presents competitive profiles on each of the companies in the Frost Radar based on their strengths, opportunities, and a small discussion on their positioning. The publisher analyzes hundreds of companies in an industry and benchmarks them across 10 criteria on the Frost Radar, where the leading companies in the industry are then positioned.