You'd be forgiven if you tend to cringe when thinking about 18-wheelers running down the highway without drivers.

The trucking industry knows this and is trying to address it, because driverless vehicles might be more efficient and less prone to accidents than those operated by human beings. (One day. Maybe. Perhaps.)

According to the paper, Walmart has joined with the Arkansas Trucking Association and several companies to make up a newly formed "autonomous trucking council," which sounds like a committee. Committees are awful when it comes to writing (except the King James Bible and the U.S. Constitution, both inspired by God), but committees seem OK when coming up with safety concerns. In that case, the more the merrier.

Kodiak Robotics Inc. makes self-driving vehicles for the industry and defense outfits. The company established the council, which also includes UPS, Werner Enterprises and Loadsmith as founding members.

In April 2023, Kodiak, based in California, partnered with Tyson Foods and C.R. England, a Tyson contractor, to haul time-sensitive and refrigerated freight in the Dallas and San Antonio areas. Kodiak has also worked with shipping giants like Ikea, Maersk and Martin Brower.

While Walmart, which has more than 15,000 drivers (and bills itself as one of the largest and safest private fleets in the country) has not announced plans to work with Kodiak, it said in a statement that it's "continuously innovating, testing and learning about different technologies to help make our drivers' jobs easier, as they are at the core of our operation."

For its part, Kodiak says its technology allows trucks to perform more predictably than human-driven ones. They can also drive nearly 24 hours per day, seven days per week, only stopping to refuel, pick up new loads and get self-diagnosed (!) maintenance.

Unbeknownst to many (unless you've been reading this space for the past year), Walmart ran smaller autonomous trucks at home in Bentonville for 18 months with a safety driver aboard, and gained approval from the Arkansas Highway Commission in 2021 to operate the trucks without a driver behind the wheel.

Tyson has run a similar program on repeated routes between distribution and storage facilities in the Rogers and Springdale areas.

Why is all this happening in Arkansas?

It's because Arkansas--with Walmart, Tyson, J.B. Hunt--is a mecca for trucking. And part of the reason for locating here is not just state ties, but location, location, location. Northwest Arkansas is in the middle of America and serves as a hub to some of the nation's largest cities, including Dallas-Fort Worth, Kansas City and Chicago, just to name three.

Good for the Arkansas Trucking Association and for the forward-thinking companies involved. Like it or not, while driverless trucks may not be right for all trucking needs, they're not going away.

This technology is only going to improve.