Self-driving truck companies Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI have been granted a federal exemption this week, removing a significant hurdle for commercialisation. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has approved a five-year exemption, allowing these companies to use cab-mounted warning beacons instead of traditional roadside warning devices, such as reflective warning triangles.
Under previous federal regulations, a human driver was required to place reflective warning triangles on the road within 10 minutes if a big rig encountered trouble. This requirement posed a challenge for self-driving trucks, which lack a human driver to deploy such devices.
Daniel Goff, vice president of external affairs at Kodiak AI, stated that the exemption will help the industry "usher in an autonomous era of freight movement on U.S. roads." Gerardo Interiano, Aurora's head of government relations and public affairs, described the high-visibility, cab-mounted warning beacons as a "critical, 21st-century solution that enhances roadside safety by immediately alerting other road users without ever needing to put a person in harm's way."