A bold road: Saudi Arabia bets on driverless trucks

Saudi Arabia is making a bold move in the realm of autonomous transportation, with the country's AI firm HUMAIN and US-based Applied Intuition announcing plans to roll out driverless freight trucks across the nation by the end of 2030. This ambitious project, part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 initiative, aims to revolutionize the country's vast road network, which stretches over 440,000 kilometers and is home to nearly half a million trucks.

By eliminating human drivers, the autonomous trucks could potentially reduce costs, boost productivity, and minimize road accidents caused by human error. The partnership between HUMAIN and Applied Intuition will initially focus on freight trucks, ultimately expanding to other sectors such as taxis, ports, mining, manufacturing, agriculture, and construction.

The two companies envision this as the "world's largest autonomous trucking network", positioning Saudi Arabia as a pioneer in the deployment of autonomous vehicles nationwide.