Autonomous trucks generally officially operate at what's known as Level 2, an engineering standard that includes technologies such as automatic braking, acceleration, and some amount of steering. (Basic cruise control, by contrast, would amounts to Level 0, and certain features such as lane-assist or adaptive cruise control would be Level 1). However, autonomous trucks are often effectively operating at Level 4 – or "high automation," with their safety drivers generally only taking over on local roads.

"The genie is well out of the bottle," says Pete Guarraia, who leads the Global Supply Chain Practice at the consulting firm Bain & Company."At some point, you will look to your right, look to your left, and you won't see a driver in your truck. The question, now, is how long will it take to actually drive this change?"