Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) has announced a major milestone for autonomous driving technology in its trucks and has set an ambitious goal for the future. Daimler will put a Level 2 autonomous truck on the market in the U.S. this year, and aims to have a “highly autonomous” Level 4 autonomous truck available within the next 10 years.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, DTNA announced that their model year 2020 Freightliner Cascadia will have Level 2 autonomous features built in. 2020 Cascadia trucks are already in “pre-series” production, with full production set to begin in July. So, by July, there will be mass-market commercial trucks on public roads without a driver holding the wheel.
According to DTNA, Level 2 automation means the truck will be able to steer, accelerate, brake, and even come to a full stop without driver intervention. DNTA emphasized that a human driver “remains in control at all times,” but that they are “supported constantly” by the autonomous system.
DNTA is also planning on investing about $570 million to develop a Level 4 autonomous truck. They expect to have those trucks production-ready within 10 years. That level of automation would provide full autonomy in most situations, capable of driving itself the whole way from shipper to receiver without any input from a human driver.
Source: fleetowner, cnet, engadget, prnewswire, mashable, theverge
People sure don’t like us truck drivers! They keep trying to put us out of work. Your welcome for your food and other stuff being delivered to stores, and thank you for forcing us to look into other careers! It’s mighty kind of y’all!
Absolutely Clay! They thank Veterans for their service but we truly service everyone and the country itself. No one lives comfortable without us.
Enough with the while ” no one likes us truck drivers.” We don’tont even like each other. But this isnt about not having a job. Its about a robot taking control while we sit back.
opportunities will open up,,, wow i,m impressed one driver out of millions that thinks past his pecker he will do fine,, was involved in transportation since 60s before retiring and most drivers don,t change just complain and moan and groan about how the world is out to get them the few that actually try to better themselves do fine unfortunately they are very few and far between
Be nice to buy a totally autonomous truck and lease it on somewhere and send it to work and stay home on the couch and collect a pay check or get a second job.
Swift, Uber, Amazon, UPS, FEDEX, Tesla… you name it… all those cats have way deeper pockets and believe me they are already on this idea.
There will be almost no room for independent small fleets other than on very niche markets and tasks, mostly local and highly specialized.
While it’s true that government Regulators don’t much like humans having control over their own truck, or car, or in general….
You don’t think maybe you should start buying stock in all these companies that stand to benefit?
There’s going to be a lot more trucks on the road if they don’t need drivers so why don’t you get a job as a programmer or learn to maintain the engines on these things?
Start doing your research now so you’re ready later!
What do you think Elogs and Speed Limiters are all about, to drive the O/Os and small trucking firms out of business
Just wait till there hacked into. I can remember what the terrorists said they do on 911 just that kind of thing and then blow up bridges and buildings. If they can hack into the FBI they sure can with these vehicles. I wish the government and the American people luck with that. Oh! Now the lawyers who love to sue the trucking companies now can sue the makers.
They will never have a truck in operation without a human in it no matter how advanced it is
Exactly, not anytime soon on a large scale anyway.
In the meantime, let’s curb those who talk about a reduction in pay- we need to start thinking differently, like say example commercial airline crew, or train crew ie
More technology = more complexity =more monitoring = more responsibility = more risk= more money …. NOT less!
Let’s not forget this formula guys and gals.
Five days at home with the old lady is enough for me the have a truck least on somewhere that can drive itself and me stay home no thank you it’s not worth all the bitching and nagging I’d have more honey do’s and stuff then not ever think about do do and once again thanks everyone for putting us all out of work people sure like truck drivers don’t they
Who is DT going to blame this on? While politicians are in this three-ring circus discussing about a ridiculous wall, and idiots are writing on the walls of rest stops things like “we need walls” and so on, the real job killer who no one talks about, not the press, not the government, not anyone is automation.
What is the plan to retrain and replace these jobs, especially when the average driver age is over 50. Way too old to get into nursing school, way too young to retire.
And then all the ancillary services, like restaurants, fueling stations.
No wonder why there is a slow down in the construction of truck stops but an increase in the construction of car only travel centers.
When shippers do the transition to autonomous trucks, there will be a major financial, and social crisis, the likes of which we have never seen before, not even during the first recession.
Get ready, times a coming.
Lets go on strike like the old days. We know have something to bitch about.
Unfortunately it’s big unions who have caused higher wages, benefits, more sick days, & more jolidays than most of the rest of us. Just saying!
We have no time for envy- think differently!
That’s not gonna happen. How are they gonna have full autonomous trucks they would have to change alot more then just trucks. They will have to change infrastructure and put sensors in buildings and roads so the truck can fully read its surroundings. Its gonna take much longer than they think because that truck wont be able to do everything and read everything on its own
I agree. I’ve been trucking 10yrs. Technology is CHANGING DAILY but it’s going to take more than a small change in a truck to get this going. I got 10 more years to get this MONEY GAIN. I’ll be retired by time they get this together.
I would like to see that truck back into a dock or drop and hook without a driver. Looks like to me that there will be a high demand for dock hustling drivers.
Don’t you think that shift will bring opportunities?
wow i,m impressed one driver out of millions that thinks past his pecker he will do fine
This is just the start duh. We need to look into other fueling options like the Europeans have.
I agree
How much does one of these cost?
Money is apparently no object!
Lol
These trucks are going to be in people’s way doing 2mph at turns. Vandalism/robberry on the auto truck will increase from lack of support by public opinion of autotrucks. Hackers/domestic terrorism tampering with the programming of auto trucks increasing lawsuits.
so they’re going to need lots and lots of security guards and fueling technicians and maintenance technicians and IT security guys and all sorts of new stuff.
Start looking into your options now and start saving up for school.
Yep all kinds of low paying JOBS waiting for us OO small business owners. Can’t wait.
Be optimistic- check out my above post.
Let’s not just roll over yet my friend
So true and that’s just too start.
There is absolutely no way that a computer can replace human reaction to the ever changing actions of the road.
There will always have to be a driver at wheel just like with a pilot in the air, you can put it in the auto mode but the inner city driving will still have to be done by a human.
Yep, a very low paid human
Stop!
You mean higher paid
Read my above formula- and quit perpetuating a poverty stricken mentality
Not to mention the foolishness of the “motoring pubic”
They haven’t yet figured a faultless sensor. Now they’re gonna put trucks with a whole bunch of them always faulty sensors on our roads. I drove a new Volvo with the adaptive cruise control. It worked fine untill the first wet snow storm. The truck would not keep distance any more, because the bumper sensor was covered in snow. Also the cameras got confused with the lane keeping thing in construction sites. Needless to say I don’t drive that Vulva anymore. Keep them away from my family on the road as well. I don’t trust the technology. When them nerds build a computer software that doesn’t hang, or shut down, maybe I will reconsider.
What the hell are you using cruise control in those conditions for in the first place? I drive one of those too but at least I dont use cruise in bad weather and road conditions. That said, I have no use for the Volvo adaptive cruise control and the collision avoidance system. I’m in a Ryder lease that is set at the most sensitive setting. The damn thing kept jamming on the brakes when it detected a car slowing down on an off ramp. Only way I found to fix the problem was to stop using the cruise.
Just cover the camera.
or just disconnect it from the sensor box? I did that all was well cept for no cruise but 65 was my cruise anyways lol
And if it does that on snow or ice, I have no idea how these wizard builders will excuse themselves…
Well said and I agree fully but no one will listen to that sense.
Anybody in there right mind knows that you don’t use cruise control in the snow, rain etc. Hell you are just asking for an accident.
With so many sensor failures on current trucks, I can’t imagine anyone sticking with a fully autonomous truck. While presently there are only a couple hundred sensors, I would guess this wonder truck will need close to a thousand… all prone to failure. And since none of the states has written a complete set of laws governing liability, much less correlating those laws with neighboring states, I can’t see these trucks out there anytime soon.
I place articles like this right up there with flying cars. We were promised those back in the early 60’s….and where are they now??
I hate to say it but in terms of safety the real question is how many people get killed? If a self-driving truck kills one less person over X number of miles than a human driver would, it’s by definition safer.
Whatever. You might get lucky and government Regulators will hobble self-driving trucks into being not worth the trouble… they do react to political pressure and public opinion, after all.
On T.V. where they belong
Money is no object- the tech geeks are running the asylum, and the insurance companies are all for it at god speed!!
This article leaves out a lot of specifics others didn’t. Still needs a driver, has to operate without issue 5 yeaes and 500k miles, no urban areas, no rural areas. Someone has to keep their hands on the wheel, after 15 seconds it starts beeping, 15 after that it starts wandering. The engineers don’t know how to answer most questions. This truck is supposed to run interstate with a driver.
They love hyping it up though. They need to sell it to a company like Ashley Furniture and send it on a 15 stop load behind rent a centers.
ROTFL😂😂😂
lol
Let’s just have pilotless 747’s engineerless locomotives, and while we’re at it, throw in staff less and technicianless nuclear power plants. Like Jeff Goldblum said in Jurrasic Park, maybe we should spend less time on whether we could and more time on whether we should.
Prepare to watch some of the most horrific wrecks and tragedies you will ever see but I’m sure the propaganda is being compiled as we speak to call deaths of families on the road something else like vehicular citizens reduction or any crap that furthers death of people and industry.
What’s to stop someone from making the truck stop and robbing it?
Maybe they will build them with automatic machine guns on it!
Lol
These stupid “autonomous trucks” will never be a reality, no matter what people say, what happens when the computer fails and kills a whole mess of people because it plowed into traffic at 100mph? There are too many variables at play to be a reality, not to mention these would cost at least $1 million each at launch, and Daimler isn’t really known for quality
They will still blame the driver, all the or doing is trying to drive the price trucks higher.
well i can tell ya i won’t be buying one, i have an 18 kw that i hope i’ll have for 10+years.
Good morning, I have better idea about 100% monitoring drivers logging but need additional pay for every driver. Guaranteed they follow the rules.
What about those truck stops? What they should do with their bathrooms, food, etc. I don’t think they are going to like the change.
Few deaths involved and they done.
And plenty opportunities with so many idiots behind the wheel.
Hundreds of millions of lawsuits will put eventually this idea back at its place.
It will be a while before it will happen but eventually it will happen.
But until then it’s a long time.
Last time I heard was a doctor from another country performing surgery in USA.
That too was a big dream with robotic surgery.
Just one big lawsuit and everyone it’s scared.
Think about it.
There are so many idiots behind the wheel now.. And they want to put an 80,000 pound rig out on the road without an idiot behind the wheel.. That is more scary in itself.. I am old school, but I do not think there is room on our highways for a driverless rig.. Todays steering wheel holder is rapidly replacing the TRUCK DRIVER of the past.. Used to be that one could be proud to tell someone he was a truck driver, not any more.. I am so glad I am not on the road any longer.. There is seldom the courtesy of a headlight flash or a marker thankyou.. There are so many trucks out there that do nor run a CB and lots of those that do only want to run their mouth and talk trash and cuss with every other word.. The CB is not the place for foul talk.. Thank you to all those drivers out there doing a job that needs to be done for everyone to lead a life in comfort.. R.B. Barnby/Bearbait
I think it is a corporate fantasy. No one has even ever come up with a robot housekeeper yet.
Ok boys and girls here is the lesson for all you intelligent people. The government have been in research and development of autonomous vehicles since 1979 I first heard about it in 1985. So now in the new millennium they coming out to talk about self driving trucks. Yeah the government elected officials have been hiding their intentions in plain sight and clouding important issues with foolish protesters crisis actors and other dumb malarkey. The truth was never in them and nothing has changed since my 13th birthday when I became a man. Hell I got my CDL in 1996 wasn’t able to get any experience driving until 2005 from that time until 2015 I’ve been on the road driving in entry level driving capacity. While the man gets rich and us poor drivers get the short end of the nothing stick. If I was a terrorist I’d be a rich man by now. Because I’d get paid to sell propaganda to dumb mother truckers that don’t care about nothing and nobody. Fungus is as stupid does and lives in the ass of Congress.
These things will not, I repeat will not be any safer than human drivers as long as there are other humans on the road. No AI can predict human interaction. You will see problems. They’re are simply too many variables.
If these companies have the money to purchase these trucks, it shows the drivers are getting totally screwed on what they’re being paid. These companies will then try to hire anyone including teens to sit in them. They are so greedy they will want to pay min wage or by the mile once again screwing drivers.The newbies ( which I refer to as crash dummies ) rush through school and consider themselves as truckers has taken to the road with no respect for nobody else. I wonder how the dispatchers will feel not being able to push the automated trucks to be faster ( when its not possible ) or to go over their hours. I guess its time to replace those sitting at home in their onesies barking orders. The government once again and the greed of big business has found a way to screw the working people
OR, make us highly trained recognized professionals finally!
Read my above formula, and THINK differently!!
Or- you’ll get exactly the same as the toxic and pointless seeds you’ve planted!
There will be carnage on streets and highways til they iron out the bugs.. but if or when these robot trucks do finally self maintain / locate businesses and maneuver around city blocks and avoid every freakin obstacle in sight prior to performing an alley dock in south Chicago…The day we witness that will be the day humanity went bye bye because SkyNet has officially taken over
Also…AI will have already replaced most everyone else by the time it finally rules the transportation industry…. John Connor, where are you??
Yea I can’t wait to see how these autonomous trucks handle weather conditions out west on I-90 in the winter lol.
Guys we have nothing to worry about!
Going back to school to earn my law degree…you guys be safe out there, and welcome to the world of technology.
Good for you my friend, congrats and best wishes
Some how “driver being under control at all times” and “not having there hands on the wheel” doesn’t make any since to me. I admit I’m not the smartest person on the planet but those two statements contradict each other.
Yeah, that made me reread it too, a little odd?!?
Which one is it??
Lol
What did he sing? “Times are a Changing”.
I have been driving for quite some time. A driver will either Go with it and Grow with it. Or, just complain and be left behind, all those hours in the sleeper can teach ya.
No matter how much they make a truck Autonomous, the public and the Law will always want a human driver behind the wheel.
I look forward to it, time to break out the books.
I don’t think they realize in reality how long this really going to take.
I hear no mentioning Of how thease trucks are going to refueled or recharged( I’m assuming there gonna be electric) when there depleted.
So in in reality the shippers ,receivers and truck stops will outfitted for this demand.
This will be a huge under taken. Although I believe in technology and eventually believe this can and will happen, but not in ten years.
There will be an economic disaster , especially if the trucks go all electric . The truck stops alone will make Wall Street crash.
Dont worry there will be mass roadway deaths
Lol
Unfortunately that could be the case
Can you think of some mundane things truckers do that robot trucks will properly never be able to do?
Here are a few things I can think of:
A. Know how to instantly correct a pending jacknife situation.
B. Follow an instantly created detour route because the highway was just shut down.
C. Park in a safety zone when the road is closed during blizzards.
C. BACK UP when the GPS takes a non truck route that requires it, like on a deadend street.
D. Read off route low bridge signs.
E. Know when the weather has instantly changed to require a slower more safe speed.
F. Recognize lanes during cross median construction zones when the lane lines are barely seen.
G. Know when a trailer tire has blown out.
H. Read warning signs or SEE that a flash flood has washed out a part of the upcoming highway or with our crumbling infrastructure that a bridge has collapse.
I. Know when the reefer has shut off.
G. Bump docks.
H. Fill out the paperwork during accidents.
I. Testify in court when these robot trucks are killing a bunch of people like all trucks do.
Those were just a few I could quickly think of, surely you guys can add a lot more.
That’s if this post even gets published.