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Bot Auto Stresses Safety at Houston Presentation
Company Says Trucks Will Be Fully Autonomous by End of Summer
HOUSTON — Bot Auto, which plans to bring autonomous trucks to Texas highways, presented the company’s technology and trucks to local transportation and law enforcement agencies on May 8 at the Houston TranStar building.
Bot Auto has completed fully autonomous testing between Houston and San Antonio since last fall. The company plans to launch fully driverless operations for an initial four months.
Bart Teeter, director of fleet and operational safety with Bot Auto, said, “One of the things that we’re very proud of is we’re a later entry into the market, and so we’ve been able to leverage the advances in AI that some of the companies that started before us didn’t have.”
Teeter, who formerly worked at the Texas Highway Patrol, said safety is one of the reasons he advocates for these vehicles on Texas highways. Texas led the nation in fatal large-truck crashes between 2018 and 2022, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
Teeter believes that using these smart trucks to carry freight could help prevent further crashes caused by humans.
“We like to brag, right? We’re Texans. Things are bigger in Texas. Well, the one thing I never really wanted to brag about was how big our crash problem is,” he said.
Bot Auto spokesperson Jeremy Desel said the Voluntary Safety Self-Assessment — documents encouraged by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for companies that develop and launch automated driving systems — will be released in the next couple of weeks.
Teeter said the trucks will operate fully autonomously, without a driver, by the end of summer. It will not haul hazardous materials.
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Bot Auto CEO Xiaodi Houis a co-founder and former CEO of pioneer autonomous trucking company TuSimple. (Bot Auto)
Questions were raised at the presentation about the company’s process for coordinating with first responders if the trucks encountered a crash or needed to pull over.
Teeter explained that the self-driving system will pull over to the side of the highway if it detects an issue with the sensors. He also noted that if there were some kind of catastrophic failure and the truck breaks down, it would be similar to how any other vehicle breaks down in the middle of the road.
The company also has dispatch operators who will know if the truck has encountered a traffic stop or emergency, and can be contacted by first responders.
Teeter said they plan to have people positioned between the routes who could quickly reach the areas if the truck has a problem.
If roadside service is delayed, first responders can remove the vehicle and clear the area, Teeter said.
The truck will disengage itself after a traffic stop or emergency, the company said. However, if access to the cab is needed, a person can engage the parking brake, place the gear to neutral and contact the Bot Auto 24-hour emergency line.
The truck can also be turned off like a tractor-trailer: turn the ignition key to the “off” position. The company recommends calling its emergency line before shutting down the vehicle.
Teeter said the trucks can slow down when they see emergency vehicle lights or detect sirens of emergency responders. They can also move over in case other vehicles are pulled over at the side of the road.
“Our trucks will not speed. They’re programmed to obey the speed limit at all times,” he said.
Bot Auto plans to have a route between West Houston and East San Antonio by taking Interstate 10.
However, Teeter said that as the company matures and commercializes, they could consider I-45 to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“Right now, I-10 is our priority,” he said.
Bot Auto, founded in 2023, operates a fleet of driverless trucks and partners with other businesses to provide autonomous freight transportation.
Bot Auto has six heavy-duty diesel 18-wheelers that use cameras, radar and lidar units like other autonomous trucks. The mounted sensor array on the vehicle has eight lidar sensors and 15 high-definition cameras.
