Most 18-wheelers need a human driver to go anywhere. But at Riggy’s Truck Parking in Katy, a self-driving truck drove over speed bumps and passed through an exit gate Tuesday for a demonstration in which the driver was just along for the ride.
John Nelson, who has more than 30 years of truck driving experience, sat in the driver’s seat with his hands hovering over the steering wheel and his feet near the gas pedal and brakes. As a safety driver, his job is to watch the area while the truck is moving and be ready in case anything goes wrong.
“I’m constantly scanning to make sure the truck is seeing what I visually see, anticipating how it’s going to react to what’s going on around me,” Nelson told the Houston Chronicle before the start of the demonstration route.
Bot Auto, a Houston-based autonomous trucking company, has been conducting full driverless testing with a safety driver present since last fall. This year, the company plans to launch its West Houston to East San Antonio route without a driver on Interstate 10…