The Department of Transportation has announced the creation of a new group within the DOT which will help to push along “new technologies” like autonomous vehicles. The new group is reportedly meant to break down impediments to developing, funding, and deploying new transportation technology on a national level.
At the South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin, Texas, DOT Secretary Elaine Chao spoke about the newly formed Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology (NETT) Council. Chao stated that the NETT Council is concerned with “nothing less than transforming the way in which we move, live and work.”
Chao spoke about the importance of making sure that the DOT would not be impeding new technologies. The NETT Council will be tasked with making it as easy as possible for companies to obtain permits, funding, and regulatory waivers. Further, companies will be able to petition the NETT Council directly.
It is not yet known who or how many people sit on the NETT Council.
Chao spoke about autonomous vehicles specifically during her speech. She claimed that autonomous vehicles can make roads safer and less congested, but worried that public opinion might make adoption difficult.
A recent AAA survey found that 73% of Americans are still frightened of self-driving cars. To overcome that, Chao appealed directly to the tech companies by asking “people at Silicon Valley to share with us their confidence and their comfort with the new technology.”
Source: DOT, truckinginfo, overdrive, ttnews, ttnews, engadget, smartcitiesdive, kxan, govtech
Max says
If 73% of the public are afraid of self driving cars, you KNOW the number that fear self driving trucks is even higher. I don’t understand this huge push for this technology. Seems the only ones that want it are the companies trying to develop the technology and a few of the large fleet owners.
I think they need to take it slower…much slower!
Michael Melchizedek says
Absolutely!
Steve Cruz says
Corporate capitalism will finish killing the middle class. You cant slow down technology because the law will always be outdated and America needs to be competitive worldwide. Large fleet companies have to undercut drivers for profit. If they don’t secure profit, someone else will and goods become more expensive. No one will buy goods from America when they can buy somewhere else cheaper. Its bad economics. If America is first to perfect automated technology, the rest of the world won’t stand a chance to compete with America. Its a race in the 160 billion dollar industry. There’s no slowing down, that’s the scary part as a driver.
shogun says
If we can combine Elaine Chao’s trucking experience, which is ZERO, with others of similiar qualifications (hairdressers, dog walkers, etc), it should bode well. The govt will always remain consistent in making things worse. I for one am proud of Chao for taking the time away from meeting with people from Kentucky where her husband, Mitch Mcconnell is from, to form committees which will undoubtedly only benefit the tech industry and carriers looking to eliminate workers, all under the guise of safety. Chao will most likely become a consultant to trucking in the private sector once she is thru screwing over the trucking industry.
Its not so much a draining of the swamp as it is a changing of the swamp guard.
Qho cares says
Another way to loot this country
Gene says
Hey Choe, Have you ever been to a terminal? a warehouse? Maneuvered around a yard? Backed into a dock? I invite you to come to New Jersey where professional truckers are the best of the best!! Trucks without drivers….I laugh in your general direction. Get out of your office and come to see what truckers really do! Put that autonomous truck reasearch funding towards building the wall!!
Steve Cruz says
Maybe on the east coast, local drivers will still be needed due to tight corners but long haul drivers will be the first go unemployed if they can’t get a job doing local runs. Automated Trucks can already back into warehouses. Flatbeds and car haulers pull up more than they back in.
Michael Melchizedek says
Agree… how about in 50 years.
Gene says
Hey Choe, Have you ever been to a terminal? a warehouse? Maneuvered around a yard? Backed into a dock? I invite you to come to New Jersey where professional truckers are the best of the best!!
Sean says
More wasted tax dollars for the Americans. Put the money where it’s needed. Roads , parking, adapt canadian hos, stop ruining drivers lives. And we all know autonomous vehicles aren’t gonna work. For goodness sakes wake up Martinez. You have no more rules and mandates to make, youre so out of ideas and so afraid to lose your jobs because there’s no more rules to make. Stop messing with things you know nothing about.
Old trucker says
How convenient that this news is the next article that follows the new hos rules changes!
MrYowler says
“deploying mew transportation”
Samuel Barradas
Tried to reach you privately; no joy.
Luis says
Cat trucks!!
Stephen Easton says
So as is there aren’t enough people who can’t make a living. Finally truck drivers are also going to be consigned to the tip. Of course everyone knows we are all independently wealthy. We get stolen from left right and center and not satisfied with that we are to be unemployed too. Guess what 5g is all about. Yes the infrastructure for driverless cars and trucks.
Luis says
Vote Andrew Yang 2020. He understands the truckers are going to get pushed out of jobs. It’s inevitable.
Steve Cruz says
Andrew Yang is listening to truckers, unlike Mitch
Tommy Molnar says
“The new group is reportedly meant to break down impediments to developing, funding, and deploying new transportation technology on a national level.”
Impediments like technology that is not here yet, and won’t be for a lonnnng time. When they can make self-driving cars 100% safe (there’s a laugh for ya), then maybe they can think about trucks. This is pie in the sky for trucking companies AND big government.
Steve Cruz says
They don’t have to be safe 100% unless big government regulations demand it. Small government lets them do what they want. Automated vehicles only have to be ‘safer’ and not perfect. Automated vehicles already get into fewer accidents per mile when compared to humans and technology is only improving.
The threat is here and its coming sooner than most truckers want to admit. There no point in denying that it isn’t possible because the tech is already here. A better solution is to impose regulations that postpone autonomous trucks to buffer the instability drivers will face in the coming years
John says
DOT, FMCSA, everybody in these entities needs to be fired and replaced with people knowledgeable of the trucking industry. These have not a clue what there doing. Things trickledown people. Everything that goes into play today hurts all not involved tomorrow. These morons are playing a stupid game with the movement of the American people’s lives. Everything you see that is not part of nature has been moved by truck at one time. There playing with the wrong parts of the industry. It’s not the trucks or the drivers but the shippers and receivers. They are the problem, with ridiculous movement times, and all the delay times at both ends. The drivers can only work with the hours given to them by these people. There needs to be, not should be, people with real trucking experience running these ruling offices. Time to get realistic about this shit and not take it anymore. It’s not ROCKET SCIENCE to see the way things should be. This needs to stop like 10 years ago.
Steve Cruz says
They should automate shippers and receivers instead
John silveira says
First untrained drivers lose all over 48 states,them 18 years old being allowed to follow those untrained drivers.. high ways became a war zone, where besides common drivers,assossiations,corporations and law enforcement pursuing, abusing, and ignorantly regulating the industry, now high tech industry want to extinct professional drivers, everything is about, mega trucking corp. Big box retail drivers assossiations, and goverment being in bed together, wile we work 70.hours a week and.spend most of our days away from home and family.. while.they are.having 50k.diners at our accounts.. i do.miss the old simplest days.. when we.got paid for the job we did, had respect, and.time.with our families…today isnt a truckers but road slaves.thanks to oir government and related industry and assossiations.
Jason Wells says
AI ANYTHING TO TO TAKE HUMANS OUT OUT OF THE WORKING EARNING PROCESS AND IMPLEMENT THE RFID CRYPTOCURRENCY AKA MARK OF THE BEAST NWO SYSTEM THAT NO ONE BUYS SELLS TRADES WITHOUT IT. CHECK MATE FOLKS. YOU HAVE BEEN BAMBOOZLED!!!
Lady Doe says
DO SHE KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT DRIVING? HOW MUCH TIME HAVE SHE SPENT BEHIND A SEMI?
Steve Cruz says
She supported the ELD mandate. Of course, she doesn’t know anything about driving. Follow the money and you’ll find that some of her biggest donors are from mega-carriers.
Joseph says
I would love to operate one of these trucks.
Glen Price says
Never trust a machine, it’s made by people and you cant trust them either. Nothing is perfect never was and never will be. It will be death of humanity if this happens. Jobs will be gone making it more difficult for people to survive. Just another way to imprison society. Sooner or later those who have homes will be made to stay in their homes and the homeless will starve. Sounds insane but proof is in the articles about robots and automated vehicles. Only the rich will survive and the poor will parish.
Steve Cruz says
When vehicles took the jobs of the horses, there was a mass decline in the horse population. Horse meat was dirt cheap and horses didn’t retrain and find new jobs.
Dee says
That is just asinine
Joey says
Lotta cash being put into this, maybe we can all get jobs at google or Uber or amazon after they put us out of work? Haha there’s gonna be a lot of people with a lot of time on their hands and not happy . Force someone out of their livelihood and pay check for no reason and see how that goes.
Shifter says
When one of their self driving trucks runs over and kills someone in my family, I will being personally looking for the head of DOT. I will have nothing to lose then, but it won’t be pretty!
shogun says
I can see a moron like Chao saying that mandatory braking and lane assist will be in new vehicles. What’s the point of pushing fully autonomous besides some of her constituents lining her pockets, or it benefitting her wealthy father’s shipping company somehow.
I’d still love to see it do what I do daily running LTL multi stops in all kinds of tight spots, or many of hundreds of things I deal with all the time.
Dee says
Can we say, more distraction?
sean quinn says
Autonomous semis will never happen, who will sign a bill of lading and take responsibility for the cargo? Noone, unless they are going to stay with the cargo all the way to the consignee. If you have to pay someone to sign for, monitor the cargo and do load checks every three hours, why would a truck company pay thousands of dollars per truck for technology it doesn’t need?
Kevin Chevalier says
So glad i’m getting the hell away from it, now let us find a way to sabotage
these nazi machines like jamers or hacking, magnetic emp’s it’s time for a
revolution we need to create our own intervention stop being treated like
an obsolete used up piece of garbage to be disposed of your going the way
of the horse and wagon the years of service mean nothing to these comi’s
we need to run these heartless cold blooded inhuman monsters out of business
Ri ma says
Autonomous cars and trucks that computer hackers can enjoy toying with. Is America great yet Mitch McConnell? Thanks ELD’s. I’m going part time
Dee says
Part time works. You just can’t buy happiness and less stress.
Super trucker says
Its just to stimulate californias economy again on the backs of truckers. A stairway to no where. Politicians are lining their pockets with kickbacks while we struggle to provide pork and beans to our families
Kevin Dixon says
First of all they need to revamp all of FMSCA, by nominating or electing former or retired CDL holders, that have more than 250000 miles under their belt to head the department. And personally it should be CDL holders and drivers that should be making the trucking industry regs and rules over someone who doesn’t have a clue about what goes on in the industry at all.