Nearly 75% of all freight in the United States is moved by trucks. They deliver everything from construction materials to hospital supplies to the packages on your porch. But the system is overworked and under-resourced, which slows down deliveries and drives up prices.

Autonomous trucking — yes, self-driving big rigs — is the solution to this challenge. But this sector has been hamstrung by senseless and outdated regulations, resulting in China-based companies taking the lead in developing autonomous vehicles. And here’s the truth we can’t afford to ignore: If we let China win on this matter, we won’t just be buying their trucks. We’ll be buying our supply chain from them, too.

That may be about to change. A Trump administration policy change that took effect earlier this week levels the playing field for domestic autonomous vehicle developers and is a step toward bringing American innovation back to America’s highways.

Until recently, autonomous trucking may have seemed like a tech-world pipe dream. Today, it is a very real economic battleground. Now, here’s the kicker: America invented this technology. Our engineers, innovators, and investors took autonomous vehicles from science fiction to functioning prototypes.........

© Washington Examiner