Autonomous truck firm says system handles tire blowouts ‘better than the average human’

As efforts for autonomous trucks continue, safety concerns are still top of mind for many in the industry.

On Nov. 10, Kodiak Robotics released a video of its autonomous driving system – dubbed the kodiakDriver – navigating a steering-tire blowout while on a test course. According to Andreas Wendel, chief technology officer for the Mountain View, Calif.-based robotics firm, the top safety-related question they are asked is how their driving system would handle a tire blowout.

“As we develop our self-driving system … we wanted to demonstrate that we can handle the bad things that can happen in real-world driving, and tire blowouts are usually the first safety risk in mind,” Wendel said in an announcement posted to Kodiak’s website.

The closed-track test – which was conducted on a truck with trailer – used a puncture rig to pop the driver-side steer tire. After the tire was punctured, the kodiakDriver initiated an in-lane stop, which the company says demonstrates the self-driving system’s precision and control. Kodiak says that if the system had suffered the blowout while driving in a typical setting, the fallback plan would bring the truck to a stop on the shoulder.

Wendel said the autonomous system’s performance exceeded their expectations, adding that the test was conducted multiple times.

Data collected during the test showed that after the tire was deflated the truck moved less than 6 inches from the center of the lane. After coming to a safe stop, the vehicle came to rest 3.1 inches from dead center.

“Preparing an autonomous truck for real-world deployment means being ready to handle the rigors of real-world trucking. We can’t control the hazards trucks will face on the open road, but we can control how the trucks behave when a critical situation occurs,” Wendel said. “Demonstrating the safety of an autonomous vehicle is about building confidence in how the system behaves in the most complex scenarios, and ensuring that the system can always maintain safety and control over a vehicle, even in scenarios where a human may lose control. By demonstrating that the kodiakDriver can consistently maintain complete control even after a major tire blowout, we’re showing the world just how safe a driver the kodiakDriver is.”

In the announcement, Wendel claims Kodiak is, “the first self-driving trucking company to demonstrate that we can maintain complete control of the truck even after suffering a catastrophic tire blowout,” adding that the company’s self-driving system, “can handle tire blowouts better than the average human driver.”

You can watch the video of Kodiak’s tire blowout test below. LL

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