The future of autonomous driving is not on public roads

Earlier today, I shared a post on LinkedIn after reading about The Port of Felixstowe expanding its autonomous truck fleet to 100 vehicles. I realised this isn’t really a story about ports. It’s a story about where autonomous driving delivers value first — and why that probably isn’t where most people are looking. Last year I wrote about software meeting steel: the idea that AI is escaping our screens and beginning to interact with the physical world. From delivery robots and airport service robots to autonomous systems in warehouses and factories, we’re already surrounded by examples. They just don’t look like the self-driving cars we’ve been hearing about from billionaire (trillionaire) technology executives. The expansion at Felixstowe is another step along the journey. This time, though, the robots aren’t delivering takeaway meals or moving pallets around a warehouse. They’re shifting shipping containers around one of Britain’s busiest ports. And this isn’t a pilot or a proof of…