With autonomous driving companies barreling ahead and real-world testing already underway, many truckers are wary of what the future may hold. Some focus on the liability question, others on a computer’s capability to handle all situations, and still others don’t believe that the government will be able to keep pace with technology – and that it’s the lack of uniform regulation that will keep drivers not only behind the wheel, but in control. But if you believe officials at the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, they’re all wrong. And autonomous trucks are coming sooner than we think.
In an interview with Fleetowner April Sanborn, the head of the Nevada DMV autonomous vehicle program, explained that while some people are expecting autonomous-driving trucks in about a decade she thinks they’ll be here sooner.
“I honestly see it a lot quicker than 2025. We are a couple years away,” she said.
“It is definitely closer than further out,” agreed Thomas Martin, an autonomous vehicle management analyst also at the DMV.
It’s important to note that Martin and Sanborn are not talking about fully autonomous, do-everything-itself kinds of trucks. They’re talking about trucks that operate autonomously in limited situations like highway-only driving.
For those kinds of uses, Sanborn says that technology has progressed even faster than they were expecting.
As for legislation not keeping up, while the federal government hasn’t become involved in a big way yet, some states are racing each other to see who can churn out the most pro-autonomous regulation the fastest. Michigan and Nevada are currently neck and neck, though Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed a new law in June that, according to Fleetowner, “allows for testing and operations of fully autonomous vehicles, the commercial use of fully autonomous vehicles and testing and operations of platooning technologies.”
States like Nevada are eager to enact autonomous-friendly laws in order to attract business.
“The idea is to encourage business to come to Nevada to test and deploy in our state,” said Sanborn. “We don’t want to stifle any of that technology.”
In what she likely meant as a reassuring comment, Sanborn said that while it may not be a great idea for young people to become truck drivers, she expects it will be “many years to come before we remove the driver.”
Source: fleetowner, dmvnv, itruck, wardsauto
You can see all this coming with all the newest ‘features’ on the trucks…auto spacing and braking, lane indicators, road condition sensors…it’s all coming.
Should be interesting to see how these trucks hold up this winter. Auto braking on ice….whoooooweeeeee!
It’s gonna take a very catastrophic incident to happen to put a end to that
After 27 years out here, I welcome it. I’m sick of trucking anyway.
This is a great idea until you realize it will cause unemployment for 8.7 million people in the transportation field, many of whom is among lower and middle class families.
Just because we can do something, doesn’t mean we should do something.
It isn’t the autonomous trucks that are the worry. It’s the motoring public. Every day I have to respond to events in traffic, that leave me thinking to myself, ‘Will a programmer be able to think of that?’
I sincerely believe, before any notions of fully autonomous trucks can be regarded with any seriousness, that (much) stronger regulations on cars must first be addressed. The motoring public would present far too great a hazard to any computer-operated truck (and to themselves), under the current regulatory structure.
There are just too many people on our nation’s highways who drive aggressively, drive recklessly and with far too little regard for the safety of others, and for their own.
Yes this is so true
Several years before there’s no driver in the truck. There’s still 2 pilots in airplanes that can do everthing without them. The general public should be very concerned of any vehicle without someone in it.
There’s to many unkown changes that happen, road closure, new roads that don’t show up on maps for awhile, and winter driving…. Obstacles in the road like tire debri, logs, driver can see it and adjust, computer will either adjust to different lane if possible or stop causing accidents.
The federal government ever signs off on this without drivers in the truck, they might as well sign off on airplanes not having pilots.
Oh, let’s not forget computer error and breakdowns, because that never happens.
Thank you jerks for ruining another industry! How many more MILLIONS of hard working Americans are you going to put out of work? All so the companies and ceos can make a few extra dollars!
A FEW extra? Heck, without the overhead of driver payroll, companies will be banking BILLIONS of extra dollars!
And I will be buying a lot less and living off the land…ha ha ha
Time to move to Colorado and start that weed farm I’ve been dreaming about.
Right! It’s crazy how the rich and politicians have divided us so much that we can’t come together and see what’s really going on. Us peasants are busy arguing about guns, gay marriage, abortions, and all the other bs. Meanwhile the rich keep sending our jobs overseas, taking our benefits from us (retirement and healthcare), and then they ask for tax breaks while raising our taxes. It’s unreal lol!
My thoughts are that this technology will be incorporated into more or less straight highway driving…….as for more complex driving situations I think it is a long way off before the driver is replaced. Especially for the type of truck driving I do, which involves mostly city driving doing deliveries. I really feel the autonomous technology will ASSIST highway driving for quite some time. NO one, including myself is going to be comfortable allowing an 80,000 lb plus semi barrelling down the road with no qualified driver sitting in it……that’s a long way off in my opinion….
what it will do is push more drivers looking for local work putting a downward pressure on your wages and benefits.
When will they learn? They being stopped!
Think of it…trains ans subways and rockets still crash even though they are controlled by software. Are planes to be next? Oh great.
Do you really want to trust an 80,000lb truck driving around to avoid destroying a bus full of our children.
Ther’re are NO safe ways to automatically or remotely control any vehicle when it comes down to ANY software.
ALL software has it’s flaws and can be hacked.
The new financial bubble. Everyone is going to just leave their families for weeks to babysit autonomous vehicles. Of course ATA associated carriers are salivating over this but it will be presented as chocolate when it’s really feces.
You can in this instance protect your job (if you want). Just ride around and shoot the tires out of autonomous trucks. That would be fun to watch. Or WD-40 the viewer sensors. Or just pull up in front of one and slam on the breaks. I’ll bet the computer genius don’t have a clue on what’s coming their way.
A can full of roofing nails will bring autonomous trucking to it’s knees. If I’m dreaming, this is a nightmare.
With electronic garbage, it’s not a matter of if, it is a matter of when they will fail! This is a really stupid idea.
I’m just curious… how many of you have actually looked into and researched the autonomous trucks?
The reason I say anything is, I have. And I have an extremely reliable source from a person who is very well education and UTD on all aspects working on it at one of the largest manufacturers.
These trucks are not completely driverless. There has got to be a person in the cab at all times while in motion. And it will not do everything that is needed so drivers will not be loosing their jobs. I wish people would stop and realize what they are saying “I (as a truck driver) am going to loose my job because there are auto-driverless trucks. Not going to happen! Seriously think about all the work related things you do while in your job. Need I say more??? Just saying…
Great! So they are going to pay us 10 dollars an hour to babysit there trucks. This is what happened to the airline pilots. They make what McDonalds managers make now, and got a lot of there benefits taken away from them.
Some states, such as Texas, have already passed Bills to allow for autonomous trucks to be operated without a human driver onboard.
And again. Trains will always need engineers, Ships will always need captains,and Planes will always need pilots. All of which can operate 100% autonomously. Drivers CALM DOWN.
I noticed there’s a lot of new road construction, new lanes addition, etc. Could it be that this new technology, will have its own lane to commerce?????😳 cars wouldn’t be allowed to use??? #crazy.
Nobody will care about limited autonomy trucks, the only technology that will replace driver is full level 5 autonomy, and even cars don’t have it worked out completely. Only after a car can take its drunk owner home (safely and legally), then trucking job days are numbered.
Okay… let’s all go autonomous… what a great world it will be.
I’ll only accept that it’s safe if the companies that develop the technology, the companies that build the trucks that use the technology and the Govenment officials that vote for the technology to be legal are held financially and/or criminally liable for any and all damages that result from puting a computer in control of a vehicle that has incredible destructive capability. There are too many random things that can happen that a computer can’t deal with. Best example is a complete loss of electrical power while driving… computer driven vehicle becomes a large obstacle in the spot where it is (who puts out the triangles to warn motorists so they don’t fly into the rear of a stalled truck?… especially at night) … or becomes a runaway because there is no computer to apply the brakes… or… or…
Computers and electronic components fail all the time… what makes the system that controls the autonomous vehicle somehow impervious to these failures? Nope, back it up with making these people liable, then I can at least tollerate it, but I don’t think I will ever accept it.
The Mark I human is still the best defence against the unexpected when driving… PERIOD!
I really see this technology laying off thousands of truckers. It is the future of our economic growth. And with such a shortage of truckers right now I can see it e,landing more quickly than people expect. If I was you in this industry, I would get an education before this comes to pass. Don’t be caught of guard.
If you remove the driver. How is the truck gonna get fuel, react to accidents, weather or blind side back up? I hope your company implodes. Why don’t you just replace police men with robots while your at it. We need to regulate the 4 wheelers and how many cars are on the road. And how to drive around truck drivers safely. Instead of replacing the truck drivers
Unfortunately the cutting edge of technology is programming a computer to learn how to do a job. Which is already being done. What scares me is how the economy is going to function when 25% of it workforce is laid off. The Transportation industry employees 45% of the workforce, the largest by far. Where are all these people going to go. No job equals no money which means no buying of the products. Our economy is not ready for automation.