Nearly 75% of all freight in the United States is moved by trucks. They deliver everything from construction materials to hospital supplies to the packages on your porch. But the system is overworked and under-resourced, which slows down deliveries and drives up prices.
Autonomous trucking — yes, self-driving big rigs — is the solution to this challenge. But this sector has been hamstrung by senseless and outdated regulations, resulting in China-based companies taking the lead in developing autonomous vehicles. And here’s the truth we can’t afford to ignore: If we let China win on this matter, we won’t just be buying their trucks. We’ll be buying our supply chain from them, too.
That may be about to change. A Trump administration policy change that took effect earlier this week levels the playing field for domestic autonomous vehicle developers and is a step toward bringing American innovation back to America’s highways.
Until recently, autonomous trucking may have seemed like a tech-world pipe dream. Today, it is a very real economic battleground. Now, here’s the kicker: America invented this technology. Our engineers, innovators, and investors took autonomous vehicles from science fiction to functioning prototypes. But thanks to regulatory gridlock and outdated rules, we’re falling behind. China, by contrast, is moving full throttle.
Chinese companies are already deploying autonomous driving systems at scale across over 85% of China’s national highways. These trucks are hauling freight for some of the country’s largest logistics firms and even international brands, all while operating with human drivers present only as a legal formality.
Meanwhile, here at home, fully driverless freight trucks have just begun to hit the road in a limited fashion. American companies sparked this industry, but now we’re watching China commercialize it faster, more efficiently, and on a national scale.
The U.S. is already facing a chronic driver shortage, an estimated 80,000 today, with a projected need for one million more over the next decade, according to the American Trucking Association.
That’s where autonomous trucks come in. Unlike human drivers, these rigs don’t need to sleep. They don’t get distracted or delayed. They can run nearly 24/7, doubling the distance a truck can cover in a single day from around 600 miles to 1,200. The result? Lower costs. Greater capacity. And reliable delivery, even when systems break down.
Texas is a model for the rest of the country. In 2017, the state’s lawmakers passed straightforward legislation to allow autonomous trucks on the road, provided they obey the same rules as human drivers. That simple framework gave companies the green light to innovate. Today, Texas is the world’s proving ground for autonomous freight. These trucks are already hauling goods for real businesses and real people, everything from restaurant supplies to consumer goods, and they’re doing it safely and efficiently.
While some critics argue that autonomous trucks threaten jobs, the numbers tell a different story. According to a recent study by the Department of Transportation, autonomous trucking is expected to create between 26,000 and 35,000 new jobs annually — not just software engineers but technicians, remote operators, and logistics managers, the kind of work that builds careers and feeds families.
Autonomous trucks won’t replace workers; they’ll help fill the gap. As the economy grows, we’ll need both human drivers and autonomous ones to keep up. With the proper training and transition programs, we can ensure that workers aren’t left behind but lifted by the next wave of innovation.
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Until recently, foreign-made autonomous vehicles were eligible for fast-tracked exemptions, while American-made trucks had to crawl through a bureaucratic gauntlet. That made no sense. As Scientific American points out, the rule “has often resulted in U.S. companies building experimental robo cars overseas and then shipping them back, a process that can be onerous for start-ups without hefty budgets.”
The Trump administration is correct in expanding the exemption program to include U.S.-manufactured vehicles. This will enable American companies to seize the autonomous trucking opportunity. Additionally, the program will strengthen our supply chain, create jobs, reduce costs, and boost safety — all while keeping the future of trucking in the USA.
Stephen Moore is a visiting senior fellow in economics at The Heritage Foundation and co-founder of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity. He previously served as a senior economic adviser to Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.