Entry Details

About the Entry

Category: 
All Content > Innovation Article > Mid Atlantic

Title of entry: 
Witnessing autonomy: Trucking Dive assesses technology's progress in Texas

Issue or Publication date:
6/11/2024

Publication name: 
Trucking Dive

View Website home page:
https://www.truckingdive.com/

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Entry URL(s), if applicable:
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https://www.truckingdive.com/news/self-driving-firms-aurora-kodiak-texas-launch-lane-safety-driver-2024-plans/717719/

Entry Essay: 
Autonomous trucking has long been heralded as a potential solution to trucking's problems, but few reporters have had a chance to be inside a self-driving cab.

Trucking Dive Reporter David Taube's story, "‘A totally different world’: Autonomous trucks prepare to go driverless in Texas," brings readers along on his journey to document the progress of autonomous truck technology. In a rare view from the passenger seat, he finds ways to show the technology's current sophistication level, while keeping reader concerns about the concept's risks and limitations at the forefront of the story.

The story came at a critical juncture for Trucking Dive's executive readership. While the technology has been developing for over five years, firms featured in Taube's story aim to deploy driver-free technology on public roads as soon as their safety cases are met; Aurora, for example, could do so as early as April 2025. With those promises on the horizon, trucking executives actively seek assessments of the technology's viability — not just in concept, but also in practice.

Taube traveled to Texas to get a close-up look at the technology, convincing some leaders to invite him to witness the technology firsthand. The result was an artfully written story, speaking to the culture and innovation he observed through interviews and field reporting.

Impressively, Taube surmounted significant challenges to bring this story to light.

Innovative companies facing high-stakes technology races often place significant conditions on reporters looking to see products in action. It took Taube months to build enough trust with Aurora and Kodiak to get the opportunity. Once the opportunity was locked in, he worked to ensure he could get enough information on the record to bring the story to life.

Taube credits his preparation for the trip and ongoing beat coverage as factors in gaining that access. As part of that, he landed on-the-record interviews with Werner Enterprises — a typically close-lipped trucking company and Kodiak's top partner — that could read him in on the business considerations at play when testing autonomous technology. That helped him ask more insightful questions while reporting on the ground.

After the visit was complete, Taube realized he also had a storytelling challenge at hand. How could he write of the incredible innovation going on in Texas while acknowledging the high-profile safety risks and business considerations at play?

So he sorted through an obscure federal database of truck crashes, scouring for any incidents involving autonomous trucks that could deepen his reporting. Taube not only included those figures in the story, he also delved into the crash reports to understand their severity. He then made sure to include the most relevant details in the story.

Trucking Dive Senior Reporter Colin Campbell and Editor Larry Avila played a vital role in crafting every section of the story in a way that crystallized the narrative. Visuals Editor Shaun Lucas helped select and integrate photos from the trip throughout the story so readers could feel like they were at the scene with Taube.