Foxconn Technology Group could potentially run autonomous trucks along Interstate 94 as early as 2021 under technology the manufacturer is exploring with state officials.
Those trucks would run Foxconn’s products between its Mount Pleasant LCD screen manufacturing plant and General Mitchell International Airport. They would link to a communications system in the road itself, receiving information on traffic speed, for example. Electric trucks could potentially gain charge through a wireless system as they drive down the road. Louis Woo, assistant to Foxconn CEO Terry Gou, said that “smart highway” is part of the company’s broader vision to create a next-generation environment around its manufacturing plant. Current discussions are for evening truck runs, between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., he said.
“Probably every five feet there is a sensor to tell you whether travel two feet from now will be too slow or too fast,” Woo said. “Then the truck would become a light asset truck, it would cost very little. But building the highway would cost a lot because it is all a connected highway, a smart highway. In fact, that is where China is going.” Read the full story here.
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