The future of driverless trucks is imminent.

Last month, we reported in Nip Impressions that Georgia-Pacific, Gatik and KBX (the transportation arm for Koch Industries) announced a partnership in which Gatik will automate part of the Georgia-Pacific - KBX on-road transportation network in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, delivering goods round the clock across a network of Sams' Club locations.

Recently, it was announced that a Swiss freight technology company, Einride has been given the green light for operation on public roads in the United States. In an article from Forbes, it states that "Einride was granted a permit by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for a public road pilot project."

The article goes on to state that "The public road pilot is being run in conjunction with Einride client GE Appliances, a Haier company. Pods will operate on public roads in mixed traffic near GE Appliances's Tennessee plant east of Memphis, performing a number of tasks including movement of goods and coordinating with teams at various warehouses for loading and unloading."

In a recent article from IoTWorldToday, it stated that "Waymo, Aurora and 32 others ask California governor to allow autonomous trucks in the state."

The article goes on to state that "The letter to Newsom pulls no punches, reading: Many of us are proud to be building autonomous trucking technology in the Golden State or have communities or operations that seek to leverage autonomous trucking to better serve California. Yet currently, we are unable to bring the benefits of autonomous trucks to the state. Without regulations to permit this technology, California is at risk of losing our competitive edge."

According to an article from FreightWaves, it states that "A co-founder of autonomous software trucking leader TuSimple is starting a new venture to fuel autonomous trucks with zero-emissions hydrogen."

The article further states that "The announcement was light on details. Typical of startups, attracting fundraising partners is apparently a goal.

Hydron is the first company to reveal a plan connecting hydrogen-powered fuel cells with autonomous trucking. It aims to develop, manufacture and sell hydrogen-powered autonomous trucks that would minimize the carbon footprint of Class 8 heavy trucks."

In an article from Businesswire, it states that "J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (NASDAQ: JBHT), one of the largest supply chain solutions providers in North America, and Waymo, the leading autonomous driving technology developer, announced today the latest development in their collaboration on autonomous trucking technology will include a pilot delivering goods for J.B. Hunt customer Wayfair, one of the world's largest destinations for the home."

The article also states that "The latest pilot will span six-plus weeks during July and August and take place along the I-45 corridor between Houston and Dallas, the location of J.B. Hunt and Waymo's original pilot nearly one year ago. It will be the first in-depth transportation of home furnishings retail freight between J.B. Hunt and Waymo Via (the company's autonomous Class 8 trucking unit powered by the Waymo Driver™ technology)."

In a recent article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, it states that "The Pennsylvania House passed a bill Monday, by a vote of 123-77, to allow autonomous vehicle companies to deploy and test driverless cars and trucks."

The article goes on to state that "If the bill makes it through the Senate this year, it would allow driverless vehicle developers -- following regulations created by PennDOT -- to deploy driverless passenger vehicles, as well as so-called "platoons," where a driverless truck follows close behind another truck driven by a person."

We will soon see more and more paper manufacturers implementing driverless trucks like Georgia-Pacific is doing.