Truckmakers committed to autonomy, but expectations must be managed

In recent years, some automakers in the passenger car segment have been made to walk back brave claims of functioning autonomy by as early as 2019. A reality check on the sheer challenge of self-driving has even brought the idea of fully-fledged, SAE Level 5 autonomy into doubt: “Level 5 means you can drive from San Francisco to Santiago, Chile, any time of the year, just press a button,” said Waymo Chief Executive John Krafcik in June 2019. “This is probably never going to happen. Humans don’t even do this.”