Apr. 4 (NBD) -- TuSimple, a Chinese autonomous truck technology startup, released a video showing the test drive of its fleet of autonomous container trucks Tuesday at a news briefing in Beijing, signaling its foray into the niche sector.

As ports keep operating 24 hours a day, drivers of container trucks work on three shifts a day. Truck drivers are very tired working at night. In addition, bad working condition further aggregated the shortage of port container truck drivers.

According to data released by China Road Transport Association, the shortage of port container truck drivers takes up 20 percent of truck drivers that are needed. As the salary paid to truck drivers takes up 20 to 30 percent of the total delivery cost, self-driving container trucks might be a way out. 

Hao Jianan, CEO of TuSimple, said unmanned container truck can improve delivery efficiency and make the port area smarter, more secure and more cost-effective.

At present, the company has five autonomous trucks and the number is expected to reach 25 by the end of this year. During 2018 to 2019, TuSimple will carry out large-scale road tests of its self-driving truck fleet and try to achieve commercialization.

However, old ports have to be renovated in order to facilitate the commercialization the unmanned trucks. In addition, the handling capacity of a port terminal is also an important factor.

Bie She'an, a port expert from Tianjin University, told NBD that compared to traditional automated guided vehicle (AGV) which follows markers of wires in the floor, or uses vision, magnets or lasers for navigation, self-driving container trucks will be more cost-effective in terms of the controlling system set-up and the route renovation.

The development of self-driving port container trucks is still in the early stage. The wide application needs the support from the government and the improvement of economic efficiency, Bie added.

Email: tanyuhan@nbd.com.cn