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What do the 2009 crash of Air France Flight 447 and a seminal 2012 study by Google on how people interact with self-driving cars have in common?

No discussion of the future of the trucking industry is complete without considering the advance of automated driving technology, and how it might support the movement of freight in the years and decades ahead.

After several years of fanfare and debate over when and how self-driving commercial vehicles would reach the market, early forms of this technology are beginning to become an option in new trucks.

CENTREVILLE, Va. —While some self-driving truck developers are focused on building a future when heavy-duty vehicles will operate autonomously on the highway, another startup has already begun to commercialize an automated driving system that it believes is market-ready today.

Over the past year, startups working to commercialize highly auto­mated heavy-duty trucks competed for more capital and engineers, and each pushed deeper into systems development.

Drones can offer an appealing alternative to traditional cargo delivery methods, according to Daniel Friedenzohn, associate dean of the College of Aviation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Amazon will buy 100,000 electric vans to assist with Prime deliveries, according to CEO Jeff Bezos, who made the announcement at the National Press Club in Washington on Sept. 19.

BMW AG plans to cut as many as 6,000 jobs in Germany by 2022 as part of its ongoing cost-savings effort, according to Manager Magazin.

Acknowledging a steady drumbeat of criticism from activists and a vocal group of his own employees, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos announced the formation of a new organization, the Climate Pledge, to meet the goals of the landmark Paris climate agreement 10 years early.