The attention on self-driving goes to cars, and the deployment that is actually scaling is freight. The reasons are structural and they favour trucks decisively.
Why motorways are easier
No pedestrians, no cyclists, no intersections, no parking. Traffic moves in one direction at similar speeds. The environment is closer to a rail line than to a city street.
Automating the motorway portion of a freight journey – which is most of the distance – is a bounded problem.
The economics
A truck that runs continuously without driver rest requirements covers more distance per day. Driver wages are a large share of freight cost. The value of automation per vehicle is far higher than for a passenger car.
And the industry has a driver shortage, which reduces the political objection.
How it is deployed
Hub to hub. A human drives the truck from origin to a transfer point near the motorway, the truck drives itself to a hub near the destination, a human completes the delivery.
That sidesteps the hard urban part entirely, which is why it is working.
The obstacles
Weather, which affects sensors and is more common on long routes than in a controlled city zone. Regulatory approval, which varies by jurisdiction and creates gaps on cross-border routes. And public acceptance of a vehicle that size with nobody inside.
What is likely
Steady expansion on specific corridors, particularly in regions with long straight motorways and supportive regulation. Cities remaining human-driven for last-mile delivery for years. And a freight industry restructured around transfer hubs.