Tesla's autonomous trucks will move in platoons, report says

Tesla is building an autonomous, electric semi-truck that can drive in "platoons," with a group of trucks following a lead vehicle. The news comes via Reuters, which read an email discussion between Tesla and the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles.

Additionally, a California DMV spokeswoman told Reuters that the state's officials were to meet with Tesla on Wednesday to discuss autonomous trucks.

The fact that Tesla is working on an electric truck is not new. In April 2017, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the Tesla Semi would be unveiled in September. Musk first mentioned the truck in July 2016, saying there would be variants for different purposes, such as public transport and cargo transport.

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But the new report puts an emphasis onto the truck's self-driving capabilities, something that wasn't mentioned before. According to Reuters, Tesla is "advancing toward real-life tests" of the technology, though no exact date for that is mentioned.

All newer Tesla cars are equipped with hardware that allows for some degree of autonomous driving, so it's natural that the company plans to build it into its Semi as well.

It's unclear, however, how Tesla envisions platooning, which can be done with or without a lead driver. The idea is to have one truck in the lead with the rest following closely behind, slowing down or speeding up at the same time as the lead vehicle. Ideally, this makes trucking safer, cheaper, and more efficient.

Tesla is not the first company that's interested in building autonomous, heavy-duty trucks. Both Volvo and Daimler have been testing platooning, autonomous semis in Europe for more than a year. Alphabet's Waymo has a self-driving big rig, and Uber is in the game as well, having acquired the self-driving truck company Otto in 2016.