Words by Julie Nordskog Andrews
On May 1, 2025, Aurora Innovation launched driverless freight delivery trucks along Interstate 45 between Houston and Dallas. The trucks are operated by Aurora Innovation and contracted by Uber Freight. No human operator or supervisor is on board. This is the first commercial rollout of self-driving Class 8 trucks in the United States. Class 8 trucks have a gross vehicle rating in excess of 33,000 pounds and have three or more axles. The class includes tractor-trailers, single-unit dump trucks, and non-commercial chassis fire trucks. The driverless trucks are guided entirely by sensors and AI software.
Have these automated eighteen-wheelers been adequately tested for all variables of highway driving? Critics say no. And what does their operation on Texas interstate highways mean for the safety of motorcyclists and other passenger vehicle drivers? We’re about to find out.
Aurora claims, “In over four years of supervised pilot hauls, the Aurora Driver has delivered over 10,000 customer loads across three million autonomous miles. It has also demonstrated extraordinary capabilities, including predicting red light runners, avoiding collisions, and detecting pedestrians in the dark hundreds of meters away.”
Teamsters, however, are calling for emergency legislation to require the self-driving trucks ferry human operators, as both a matter of employment and public safety. Teamster President, Robert Mele, raises the concern of whether these driverless rigs have been tested and are capable of driving in inclement weather conditions.
The Texas Tribune reports the number of driverless cars in Texas is growing. Driverless taxis operate in Austin (125 of them at last count), and services have launched, in fits and starts, in parts of Dallas. Driverless technology and automated vehicles have received adverse reports. In Austin, for example, documented cases of driverless taxi incidents have included speeding, stalled vehicles, crashes, and pedestrian collisions. These reports demonstrate, at the least, that in urban environments, driverless technology is not fail-safe.
A 2019 Federation of European Motorcyclists‘ Associations (FEMA) post cites multiple studies finding failure in blind spot and forward collision warning systems for sensing and responding to motorcycles. In July 2023, a Seattle driver using the Tesla self-driving system struck and killed a motorcyclist. This case drew media attention but is one in a handful of fatal Tesla Autopilot-motorcycle crashes. The tragedies fuel the safety debate and call for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation into whether Tesla’s autopilot system, and driverless technology more broadly, fall short of adequately detecting and responding to motorcyclists on the road. An analysis by Craft Law Firm reveals that of 1,369 automated vehicle crashes reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from 2019 to 2024, two percent involved motorcycles.
In their position statement dated 10/07/2024, the American Motorcyclist Association writes, “…the rush to market for maximization of sales of AVs without complete and competent analysis of the relationship of motorcyclist safety to the AV [automated vehicle] environment, is an invitation to injury and death.” The AMA, Motorcycle Industry Council, and Motorcycle Safety Foundation have repeatedly lobbied the U.S. Department of Transportation and NHTSA for regulation requiring automated vehicle technology to recognize and properly react to motorcycles in all traffic situations and settings, including urban surroundings, rural roads, and highways.
For the present, Aurora Innovation is running two driverless big rigs per day on I-45. On May 8, 2025, Aurora announced they will start sending driverless trucks out at night and during adverse weather in the second half of this year. According to reporting by TechCrunch, “the company says it expects to operate ‘tens of trucks’ by the end of 2025” and also plans to expand driverless truck routes to El Paso and Phoenix by the end of this year.
