The advancements in artificial intelligence, IoT, computer vision, and other advanced technologies are driving automation in multiple industries across the world. But there has been a concern regarding the replacement of human employees for AI smart functionalities. Thus, it has also affected the automobile industry, especially the community of human truck drivers. There have been some improvements from multiple self-driving truck companies that are launching autonomous trucks. Let's explore who will win the on-road race-- AI drivers or human truck drivers in 2022 and beyond.

Expect artificial intelligence technologies to alter the truck driving industry within the next 10 years. That's according to Lior Ron, the cofounder of self-driving truck company Otto, which ride-hailing company Uber bought in August for a reported $680 million. Ron said Monday that he expects driverless trucks to routinely cruise throughout U.S. freeways in the next decade. He made his comments in San Francisco during a MIT Technology Review conference on artificial intelligence. Ron's comments contrast with statements made by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Steve Mnuchin, who said in a recent interview with news outlet Axios that AI will not affect jobs in a meaningful way for roughly 50 to 100 years.

For all the talk about self-driving cars, it was a self-driving truck that may drive us a little faster into the future. This week, a big rig, carrying 2,000 cases of Budweiser beer, made a shipment in Colorado with no driver at the wheel. Anheuser-Busch calls it the world's first commercial delivery by a self-driving truck. Farhad Manjoo is a technology columnist for The New York Times, and he's also been in a driver-free truck. SIMON: What's it like to be in one of these trucks?