Autonomous trucking gaining ground

Autonomous trucking is coming faster than expected in China as Chinese driverless truck startup Fabu Technology said on Tuesday that its driverless trucks had already taken part in open road tests and it plans to achieve intercity cargo transportation this year, which is expected to reshape radically the nation's freight transportation market.

"Our self-driving truck is expected to achieve inter-city cargo transportation this year, within-city freight delivery by 2019 and inter-province delivery by 2020," said He Xiaofei, founder and CEO of Fabu, who was also former senior deputy president and a top self-driving expert of Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing.

He told China Daily that the company's self-driving truck is able to run automatically on roads 24 hours a day and seven days a week with a maximum speed of 70 kilometers per hour on fine days.