ATLANTA–Earlier this month Google spin-off Waymo announced its autonomous trucks would begin delivering freight for Google's data centers here in a pilot project. The pilot, which is being conducted in partnership with Google's logistics team, “will let us further develop our technology and integrate it into the operations of shippers and carriers, with their network of factories, distribution centers, ports and terminals,” Waymo said in a blog post when announcing the new development.
To be sure this is a baby step in autonomous trucks' journey to becoming mainstream — but it is a significant baby step, a fact that is not lost on industrial investors and developers whose operations will eventually be affected by this technology at some indeterminate point in the middle term.
The most optimistic assessments put self-driving trucks on the road in ten years, but investors and developers are already watching events closely, Pete Quinn, National Director of Colliers Industrial Services-USA, tells GlobeSt.com.
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Erika Morphy
Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.
