WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: A Self-Driving Truck Got a Shipment Cross-Country 10 Hours Faster Than a Human Driver. Well, sorta self-driving: “Last month TuSimple, a transportation company focused on self-driving technology for heavy-duty trucks, shipped a truckload of watermelons from Arizona to Oklahoma using the truck’s autonomous system for over 80 percent of the journey. The starting point was Nogales, at Arizona’s southern end right on the border with Mexico. A human driver took the wheel for the first 60 miles or so, from Nogales to Tucson—but from there the truck went on auto-pilot, and not just for a little while. It drove itself all the way to Dallas, 950 miles to the east (there was a human safety driver on board the whole time, but not controlling the truck). . . . From Dallas, the human driver took over again and drove the final 200 miles to a distribution center in Oklahoma City. From there, the watermelons were inspected—nothing to see here, they were in better shape than they would’ve been with a human driving the whole time—then distributed to stores all over the state. The reason the watermelons were in better shape was because they were a day fresher.”

80% isn’t 100%, but still impressive. But honestly, when I drive my car long distances it’s “self-driving” a lot too because the autopilot (Mercedes calls it “Distance Pilot”) controls speed, lane-following, distance from the car ahead, etc. It won’t let me take my hands off the wheel for more than 30 seconds, but I’m basically a “human safety driver” myself on long hauls. And my car is nearly 5 years old.