AI-powered driving will help with a growing shortage of drivers, rising costs and relentless demand for faster deliveries. Artificial intelligence-powered self-driving trucks are no longer a distant concept. They are quickly becoming a real solution to some of the logistics industry's biggest challenges. As supply chains face growing pressure and the driver shortage deepens across the U.S. and Europe, Plus Automation is stepping up with bold ambitions and powerful AI. Recently, the Santa Clara, California-based startup announced it will go public through a merger with Churchill Capital Corp IX.

Driverless semitrucks raise questions about safety, reliability and the future of the trucking industry. Aurora, a leader in autonomous vehicles, has officially deployed its driverless trucks on Texas roads, marking a key milestone in the evolution of transportation. This development raises important questions about safety, reliability and the future of the trucking industry. Aurora's autonomous trucks now operate on routes between Dallas and Houston, hauling commercial loads. Join the FREE "CyberGuy Report": Get my expert tech tips, critical security alerts and exclusive deals, plus instant access to my free "Ultimate Scam Survival Guide" when you sign up!

There is a rising interest in using artificial intelligence (AI)-powered safety analytics to predict accidents in the trucking industry. Companies may face the practical challenge, however, of not having enough data to develop good safety analytics models. Although pretrained models may offer a solution for such companies, existing safety research using transfer learning has mostly focused on computer vision and natural language processing, rather than accident analytics. To fill the above gap, we propose a pretrain-then-fine-tune transfer learning approach to help any company leverage other companies' data to develop AI models for a more accurate prediction of accident risk. We also develop SafeNet, a deep neural network algorithm for classification tasks suitable for accident prediction. Using the safety climate survey data from seven trucking companies with different data sizes, we show that our proposed approach results in better model performance compared to training the model from scratch using only the target company's data. We also show that for the transfer learning model to be effective, the pretrained model should be developed with larger datasets from diverse sources. The trucking industry may, thus, consider pooling safety analytics data from a wide range of companies to develop pretrained models and share them within the industry for better knowledge and resource transfer. The above contributions point to the promise of advanced safety analytics to make the industry safer and more sustainable.

Trucking can be dangerous job – long, often tedious hours behind the wheel, the unpredictability of the weather and of course, other drivers. And yet, trucking is an essential part of supply chain. Most of those holiday gifts you might be enjoying right now got to you on a truck. So truck drivers are an essential part of our economy. The companies that hire and manage those drivers have started bringing a lot more technology into big rigs, including artificial intelligence and sometimes automation.

Truck accident attorneys like to market their services by telling potential clients about how dangerous trucking is and how things are only getting worse each day. It is true that there are more trucks on the road and the industry is losing experienced drivers; however, emerging technologies are likely to have a significantly positive impact on truck safety. In particular, artificial intelligence will change the way operators drive their trucks, and tests show the use of this technology will greatly reduce truck accidents. In other words, an even better future for truck safety is just over the horizon. There are several ways that AI can help truck drivers.

The coronavirus pandemic has ushered in a new era of workplace surveillance that will extend well beyond our current crisis. Companies are increasingly monitoring employees who work from home, citing worries about security concerns or the need to boost employee productivity. In Amazon warehouses and UPS delivery trucks, surveillance technologies are being built into workplace infrastructure to monitor workers' every move. In many industries, employers can easily access phone calls, texts, browser histories, emails, and even GPS locations with very little effort. These exploitative surveillance practices are rooted in a historical mistrust of workers, especially low-wage workers, that can arguably be traced back to slavery and the exploitative "scientific management" practices that emerged from it, as bosses became obsessed with tracking workers' every move to maximize productivity and profit. Earlier forms of surveillance, like in the 19th century when companies hired Pinkerton private detectives to spy on workers, required a lot of labor. But modern technological advancements mean that the cost of surveillance today is very low.

After lumbering through a gravel parking lot like a big blue bull, one of Aurora Innovation Inc.'s self-driving truck prototypes took a wide right turn onto a frontage road near Dallas. The steering wheel spun through the half-clasped hands of its human operator, whose touch may not be needed much longer. Fittingly for Texas, these Peterbilts are adorned with a sensor display above the windshield that looks much like a set of longhorns. This was the beginning of a 28-mile jaunt up and down Interstate 45 toward Houston in a truck with a computer for a brain, and cameras, radar and lidar sensors for eyes, capturing objects more than 437 yards out in all directions. The stakes for test drives like this one are incredibly high for the future of freight.

The global pandemic has paused or inhibited momentum for a number of industries, but not the trucking industry. The economy relies heavily on drivers and fleets. Although it faces various obstacles -- including increased demand and fewer drivers to meet it – the trucking industry continues to see significant growth. According to the American Trucking Association, the trucking industry was short roughly 60,800 drivers back in 2018, and the shortage has continued. Experts estimate 80,000 fewer available drivers on the roads in 2021 vs. a year ago.

Sometimes, a new technology will change the world forever. 5,000 years ago, a nameless Sumerian started marking clay tablets with a stylus, and invented writing; a little over three centuries ago, the steam engine took its place in our lives; early in the last century, Henry Ford came up with the assembly line. There’s no telling what innovation will prove to be game-changing; but it is possible to narrow the field down. And that brings us to AI. Artificial Intelligence, AI, may just be the next big idea. It’s not quite new – computer scientists and programmers have been working on ‘intelligent machines’ since the 1950s, at least – but the tech is finally maturing, and autonomous computers, capable of collating data and making decisions in real time, are no longer a pipe dream. The implications are staggering. Practical AI makes it possible for machines to learn, and to apply that learning. AI programs underly advanced voice and facial recognition systems and fraud detection programs, applications that depend on pattern recognition. More advanced AI is being applied to the automotive industry, where it is used to monitor automobile systems in real time – and to permit driverless vehicles. And this has not been ignored by Wall Street. Analysts say that plenty of compelling investments can be found within this space. With this in mind, We’ve opened up TipRanks’ database, and pulled three AI stocks that are on the leading edge of the technology. Importantly, all three earn Moderate or Strong Buy consensus ratings from the analyst community, and boast considerable upside potential. TuSimple Holdings (TSP) The first AI stock we’re looking at here, TuSimple Holdings, is deeply involved in the autonomous vehicle industry. The company is working on AI systems that will power self-driving trucks, allowing for greater efficiency and safety in the long-haul trucking industry. TuSimple has developed an advanced autonomous driving system specifically for the needs of the trucking industry; the company’s AI backs a long-range perception system that can spot, recognize, and identify objects as far away as 1,000 meters. In another achievement, TuSimple last summer launched an Autonomous Freight Network, through which the company will address the trucking industry’s challenges. TuSimple’s AI tech will allow the company’s trucks to conduct long-haul freight runs. The AI will monitor sensor systems to keep the truck on the road, and navigate to the destination – in all weather, and even in traffic conditions. To raise capital, TuSimple held its IPO last month, offering 33.75 million shares to the public at $40 per share. Of those shares, 27 million were offered by the company, with an existing shareholder putting 6.75 million shares on the market. TuSimple received the proceeds from the shares it sold directly, totaling over $1.08 billion before expenses. Writing from Canadian investment bank RBC, analyst Joseph Spak notes that TuSimple is highly speculative – but that if it succeeds, the rewards will be enormous. “We understand concerns about vetting the technology, adoption and the path towards revenue and profitability. But if TuSimple succeeds, the equity value is significantly higher. As such, we view TuSimple very much like a venture investment in the public markets or perhaps, a biotech stock. The upside opportunity is massive. Proof points (milestones, orders) along the way should increase the market’s confidence in TuSimple’s mid-term targets and long-term opportunity, thereby increasing its stock price,” Spak explained. In line with his comments, Spak rates TSP an Outperform (i.e. Buy), and sets a $52 price target that suggests an upside of 44% in the next 12 months. (To watch Spak’s track record, click here) Overall, TuSimple personifies everything that risk-loving investors want in the stock market. It uses cutting edge tech; it has staked out a position in a field that is not quite here, but is coming; and it’s an early adopter. While still in early stages of building out its products and AI systems, the stock has attracted 7 analyst reviews – 6 to Buy, and 1 to Hold – giving it a Strong Buy consensus rating. The shares are selling for $36.08, and their $54.70 average price target imply a one-year upside of ~52%. (See TSP stock analysis on TipRanks) Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) Next up, Nvidia, is one of the giants of the silicon microprocessor industry. These are the computer chips that make all of the high tech systems possible. Nvidia was the eighth largest chip maker last year, with more than $16 billion in total sales, up 53% from the year before. Nvidia’s chief connection to AI is through the automotive industry. The company has long sold chips to car makers – automotive business makes up between 5% and 10% of Nvidia’s sales – but the car makers over the past year have been ordering more AI capable systems. Nvidia delivers chips and associated packages that allow an autonomous vehicle’s AI system to build perception, mapping, planning, and monitoring capabilities. Nvidia is working on transferring its automotive AI systems into the data center segment; the monitoring needs of large server stacks are comparable to those of autonomous vehicles, and will benefit from the application of machine learning. Covering NVDA for Baird, 5-star analyst Tristan Gerra rates the stock an Outperform (i.e. Buy) along with an $800 price target, which implies ~45% upside. The bull thesis is based on "Nvidia’s strong near-term positioning in AI data center markets and longer-term opportunities across many accelerated computing applications." (To watch Gerra’s track record, click here) "As Nvidia increasingly moves to platform solutions targeting and enabling all AI markets, while diversifying its architecture offering, the company is poised to over time dominate data center. Omniverse gives us an early glimpse of a virtual 3D world which Nvidia is at the forefront and ultimately yielding to a matrix computing world. More near term, GTC-announced foray into CPUs will expand Nvidia's computing TAM," Gerra opined. Overall, no fewer than 27 analysts have put reviews on NVDA on record, and of those, 24 are to Buy against just 3 to Hold. NVDA shares are selling for $550.34; the average price target of $682.20 implies an upside of 24% from that level. (See Nvidia stock analysis on TipRanks) Upstart Holdings (UPST) We’ll finish in financial tech, where Upstart Holdings has applied AI technology to power a lending platform. Using AI, the company aims to evaluate borrowers to determine actual risk levels and creditworthiness. A clearer understanding of the natural risks of lending money will allow lenders to approve more transactions, give otherwise marginal borrowers greater access to capital, and provide cost savings on both ends. Upstart boasts that its AI analysis platform has helped more than 698,000 customers to acquire loans, and that its model provides for 27% more loan approvals than traditional credit-scoring methods. Upstart’s AI evaluates 1,600 data points, and results in borrowers accessing funds at 16% lower rates than would otherwise be possible. The company has been in business since 2012, and went public on the NASDAQ in December of 2020. The IPO saw the company make 9 million shares made available to the public at $20 each, raising $180 million. In March of this year, Upstart released its first quarterly report as a publicly traded entity. The company reported $86.7 million in total revenues, up 39% from one year earlier. Of that total, $84.4 million was derived from usage fees. For the full year 2020, Upstart saw a 42% yoy increase in revenue, to $233.4 million. Among the bulls is Piper Sandler analyst Arvind Ramnani, who is impressed by both the company’s model, and its forward prospects. "We expect Upstart to expand its market share well beyond its primary product focus of unsecured personal loans, and its recently announced auto loans... Key to Upstart’s AI offering is its a) inherent training data advantage backed by the >1,620 variables aggregated to inform their models; b) AI algorithms that have been extensively tested and refined; c) Over 10.5M discrete repayment events that further validate the data and algorithms. Upstart’s SaaS-based revenue model (only ~1% balance sheet loan exposure) has the ability to deliver upside to our 58% CAGR (2020-2023E), in a massive market ($700B NT; $3.4T LT opportunity),” Ramnani opined. To this end, the analyst rates UPST shares an Overweight (i.e. Buy), and his $143 price target implies an upside of 65%. (To watch Ramnani’s track record, click here) Let’s take a look at how the rest of the Street sees 2021 panning out for UPST. Based on 4 Buys and 2 Holds, the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating. The average price target is $123.50 suggesting a 34.5% upside potential from the trading price of $91.82. (See UPST stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for AI stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

The trucking industry, and the logistics that keep it running, have become fundamental to the success of supply chains, both nationally and internationally. Without those supply chains running smoothly, allowing for just-in-time orders and millions of successful daily deliveries, industries of all types would grind to a halt. The Brexit situation, with Great Britain withdrawing from the European Union, is a perfect example of the kind of chaos a broken supply chain can create. Issues such as Brexit may have highlighted how important the trucking industry is, yet geo-political issues such as this are far from the only challenges currently facing freight and haulage, with market demands shifting quickly, and shipments growing accordingly. These issues have put trucking front and center in the eyes of those seeking industry disruption, and seismic changes to the way trucking works.