Self-Driving Trucks Are Already Paying Off

A new report finds autonomous trucking already supports 17,000 US jobs and could deliver $70B in GDP gains and $9B in consumer savings by 2035

2 Apr 2026

America's trucking industry has a problem that no amount of hiring can easily fix. The sector faces a projected shortfall of 1.2 million drivers over the next decade, while demand for freight shows no sign of easing. Into this gap, autonomous vehicles are accelerating with unusual purpose.

A report commissioned by Aurora, a self-driving technology company, and produced by the Steer Group, offers a picture of an industry moving from experiment to scale. Released in March 2026, it finds that autonomous trucking already supports 17,000 jobs and generates $3.3 billion in US economic output, even at an early stage of commercial deployment.

The projections for 2035 are more striking. The analysis envisions 170,000 autonomous trucks on US highways, contributing $70 billion to GDP and delivering $9 billion in annual savings to consumers through lower freight costs. Fuel efficiency gains of up to 32% are forecast to save shippers a further $5.7 billion per year, conserving 1.6 billion gallons of fuel in the process.

Safety is where the numbers become hardest to argue with. Autonomous systems are projected to prevent up to 490 deaths, 8,800 injuries, and 23,000 crashes annually by 2035, generating $9.4 billion in safety benefits measured against federal standards. Insurance premiums across the sector are expected to fall by 40% as claims records improve.

Aurora is moving to capture these gains quickly. The company has tripled its driverless freight network and is targeting Texas, Arizona, Florida, and Georgia for expansion in 2026. It has also committed $1 million to Aurora Works, a workforce training initiative aimed at channeling workers into the technical roles automation creates. Currently, 82% of AV industry workers earn above the national median wage.

Since trucking moves more than 60% of all domestic goods by weight, efficiency gains ripple broadly through the supply chain. The economics are compelling. The politics, as with most technologies that displace workers while promising to help them, are rather more complicated.