Autonomous or as they say robotic trucks are getting their own safety inspection treatment in the US.
Of the Autonomous truck boom is unbroken: you can drive longer, are not subject to breaks and compensate for the lack of human drivers. According to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) in the USA, the trend also requires adjustments to inspections.
For years, inspectors, the police, logistics companies and developers of autonomous trucks, among others, have worked together to map standards for the vehicles. Now one has agreed on such rules, which were adopted by the CVSA on September 22nd.
Conventional trucks, where inspections are performed before and after driving, are checked at stations or weighbridges, or they are waved out at random along the way. A stricter control system applies to autonomous trucks. The inspectors are prepared for this over 40 hours in a CVSA training course. Finally, an exam must be passed. The checks must not show any errors and are carried out before the journey.
In addition, an inspection is carried out at certain intervals during the journey. This involves checking whether the vehicle has passed the inventory check, whether the automated systems are working and whether it is driving within normal parameters. Then the autonomous trucks could pass the checkpoints without being pulled out.
It is hoped that this will lead to a general improvement in traffic safety and more transparency for the law enforcement authorities. The autonomous trucks should only be taken off the road in the event of violations police be bothered. However, the vehicles must be able to react to this.