WATCH: Driverless Trucks and the
Future of Freight

by TODD STOLARSKI | Sep 22, 2015

Onstage at Robots to the Rescue, Navistar's David Hillman returned to BuiltWorlds to present in front of another SRO crowd. As general manager of the trucking giant's vocational product line, he offered a fascinating preview of a future with autonomous ground freight transportation.

Lest anyone envision being tailgated by the possessed 18-wheeler in Steven Spielberg's long-ago debut film Duel, Hillman was quick to reassure our audience that there would always be a human in the cab of these vehicles. "It will basically be like 'auto-pilot' in a commercial airline," he said. "The feature is intended to help the driver, not replace him."

Indeed, earlier this year, Daimler North America announced its own driverless Freightliner, emphasizing the benefits of such platooning. Even so, while the widespread implementation of this technological revolution may still be a few years away, Hlllman gave our crowd a first glimpse of what's to come. Check out his short presentation below: