‘Today in Trucking’ is a daily brief of the most talked about trucking stories of the day on LiveTrucking.com, all in one convenient location.
Today’s brief consists of the follow three stories:
-Nikola Motors unveiled the first look at their hydrogen-electric truck in motion;
-A Chinese company is testing self-driving Peterbilts in Arizona;
-A tractor trailer nearly went over an I-10 overpass after being struck by an out-of-control motorist.
Read them below.
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Hydrogen-electric truck maker Nikola Motor Company just gave the world its first look at a Nikola One truck in motion.
The footage, released on January 25th, shows one of the company’s trucks (with a U.S. Xpress logo on the truck and trailer) cruising down an empty road.
In a Facebook post, the company stated that the 1,000 horsepower electric truck will “outperform” current diesel trucks in weight, acceleration, stopping, safety and features.
Nikola Motor Company says the truck has a 500 to 1,000 mile range, which is a considerable increase over the 300 to 500 range for rival electric truck maker Tesla motors.
Although the recently released footage is the first look at the Nikola One in motion, it’ll still take at least a year before fleets are actually able to test one. The company said that ‘preproduction units’ will be available for testing sometime in 2019.
Take a look at their newly released footage below.
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A Chinese company is currently running three self-driving Peterbilt trucks across Interstate 10 in Arizona, with plans to expand their fleet count significantly by year’s end.
The company, TuSimple, has modified the three trucks with their self-driving technology, which includes sensors that allows them to see up to 650-feet down the road.
TuSimple says they have plans on having 25 self-driving trucks on the road by the end of 2018.
The current self-driving fleet isn’t hauling any goods and is just in a testing phase, however beginning in fall, they will start to ship goods on Interstate 10 between Tucson and Phoenix.
Robert Brown, an executive at TuSimple, says although the trucks are 100% autonomous while traveling on the highway, there’s still someone in the driver’s seat at all times.
Brown also said that the self-driving technology currently only works during the daytime, but the company plans to improve it to function after sundown in the near future.
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A tractor trailer was left dangling off an overpass on Interstate 10 in Baton Rouge on Friday evening, snarling traffic on the westbound lanes.
The incident happened shortly before 5 p.m. on westbound I-10 near the Acadian Thruway (Exit 157b).
According to the Baton Rouge Police Department, a Ford-350 blew a tire and lost control, striking the 18-wheeler on the inside lane. The impact sent the semi over the left lane railing, leaving the cab partially hanging off the interstate.
Two lanes have been closed for recovery and clean up efforts, and have caused significant traffic congestion.
The truck driver was able to make it out of the truck and is reportedly unharmed.
A member of of LiveTrucking.com’s Trucker Feed Facebook group, Chris Ussery, witnessed the scene up close and posted this photo.
As of 6:58 p.m., the traffic backups continue and the two westbound lanes remain closed. An estimated time of reopening hasn’t been released. For updates on road conditions, please check WBRZ’s interactive traffic map here.
