That is how many trucks start-up Otto is looking for to help the start-up company test new technology for self-driving big rigs. Otto was started by Anthony Levandowski, an engineer who helped steer Google's self-driving technology before leaving Google to start Otto with two other former Google engineers and robotics expert Claire Delaunay. For now, the robot truckers would only take control on the highways, leaving humans to handle the tougher task of wending through city streets. Although only four months old, Otto already has outfitted three big-rig cabs with its automated technology. The company completed its first extended test of its system on public highways in Nevada during the past weekend. Though safety of course is a big concern and obstacle, Otto notes that robot truckers are less likely to speed or continue to drive in unsafe conditions than a human, and will never get tired. And then there is this point from the company: "It's really silly to have a person steering a truck for eight hours just to keep it between two lines on the highway."

That is where well-known oil industry pundit Daniel Yergin expects the price per barrel to be this fall, up modestly from the current level of around $45 per barrel but well up from the plunge to $26 seen briefly in February. That according to a recent column Yergin wrote for the Wall Street Journal, in which he also noted that "by Autumn declining production and rising demand should put the market roughly in balance" at that $50 mark. He also says that "The effect of the oil-price collapse over the past two years can be seen in the postponement, delay or cancellation of multibillion-dollar exploration and production projects around the world. The latest report from my company, IHS, notes that 2015 marked the lowest level of new conventional oil discoveries since 1952." That development in turn of course reduces supply, moving the market back more in balance. US shale oil production has also taken a big hit, with many bankruptcies, but Yergin says that by 2020 world oil consumption could be 5.7 million barrels a day higher than this year's 95.6 million, and prices will have to rebound to provide the signal for new investment. US shale will play an important role because it is "short cycle," Yergin adds, meaning new shale production can be brought on much more quickly than multibillion-dollar megaprojects that can require a decade or more.