First Officer reported they had to brake suddenly to avoid a vehicle crossing the taxiway in front of them.
Synopsis
First Officer reported they had to brake suddenly to avoid a vehicle crossing the taxiway in front of them.
Narrative
We were cut off by a pickup truck while taxiing at ZZZ airport at the start of our flight. No injuries; collisions or damage occurred. I; First Officer was pilot monitoring and the Captain was pilot flying. It was already pretty dark. At spot 1 from the corporate aviation ramp; I radioed ground for taxi instructions and we were assigned a route to runway XXC. We began taxiing with appropriate speed and lights and told to monitor tower. During taxi; after turning off taxiway 1 onto taxiway 2; we saw two pickup trucks driving on a road that would cross taxiway 2 in front of us. As we approached where the road crosses; the front pickup truck seemingly sped up to get across before us though we had right of way. Captain hit the brakes and turned on our landings [lights] to increase our visibility and came to a stop. The second pick up truck correctly stopped and waited for us to continue taxiing but the first pickup truck; which cut us off; sped off. Per Captain instruction; I swapped radio frequency back to ZZZ ground and reported what happened. Ground asked for a description of the vehicle. I personally couldn't tell the color of the vehicle but relayed that Captain said it was a yellow pickup truck and I also confirmed it was a pickup truck. After reporting it to ground; we went back to monitoring tower and continued taxiing to XXC. While in queue for departure; ZZZ tower asked us some further follow up questions which Captain answered himself. Fortunately; there were no injuries; collisions; or damage from the incident.Referencing contributing factors; I'm certain that because it happened at night; darkened visibility certainly played a role in which the pickup truck driver might not have seen us or at least seen us earlier. In terms of human performance; the pickup driver seemingly increasing speed indicates either panic; poor judgement of distance/timing or poor judgment to continue crossing in front of us. Additionally; Captain's strong sense of situational awareness and readiness to act allowed him to stop the plane quickly and prevented a collision. On a personal level; it was a notable learning moment for myself; as this was certainly the closest I've come to a collision while in an aircraft. Furthermore on a personal level; I am a little frustrated in myself that I was unable to stay more collected in the moment and immediate aftermath of the cutoff and couldn't gather more details; specifically a better description of the vehicle. I believe ATC acted swiftly and professionally in handling the reporting of the incident immediately afterward. Ultimately; I'm thankful that there were no injuries; collisions or damage and that a much worse incident was prevented.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.