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Frank Marino sat in a repurposed U.S. Coast Guard boat bobbing in Boston Harbor one morning late last month. He pointed the boat straight at a buoy several hundred yards away, while his colleague Mohamed Saad Ibn Seddik used a laptop to set the vehicle on a course that would run right into it.

Navistar’s president and CEO told a Senate panel last week that autonomous vehicle technology likely won’t eliminate the need for truck drivers, but drivers may need to gain new skills as they’re asked to manage several trucks at once.

The country’s top transportation official will update trucking executives about the Trump administration’s policies and objectives at the Management Conference & Exhibition hosted by American Trucking Associations next month in Orlando, Fla.

WASHINGTON — As autonomous technology evolves, drivers will remain integral to the movement of goods and services for the foreseeable future, top trucking executives told senators concerned about potential disruptions in the labor force.

A U.S. Senate committee is considering whether legislation dealing with the future of self-driving cars should also pave the way to self-driving trucks, considering the impact such technology could have on millions of workers.

Tesla Inc.’s design of its Autopilot system contributed to a 2016 fatal crash in Florida, accident investigators concluded as they recommended all automakers prevent autonomous driving systems from being used on roads for which they are not designed.

While a recent public meeting hosted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration gave motor carriers a chance to vent on a possible plan that could modify the way the agency assesses the safety of the nation’s truckers, the meeting seemed to leave some of them uneasy over what the plan could portend for the future.

The top driver at this year’s National Truck Driving Championships will be honored at the Management Conference & Exhibition hosted by American Trucking Associations in October.

The Trump administration will alter the course set by the Obama administration on autonomous vehicle policy after industry raised concerns about elements of that initial proposal.