The new head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said recently that driverless tech is “certainly” coming for jobs.
Acting Administrator of the FMCSA, Meera Joshi, spoke during the agency’s 2021 Analysis, Research, and Technology forum. She answered questions from virtual attendees, including one about how driverless trucks might effect truck drivers.
Last year DOT published a report on what the potential impacts of automated driving systems might be on trucking. Though it contained a huge amount of data and insight from the industry and tech companies, it shied away from making any “definitive predictions.” It did generally suggest that “there is a long time horizon before broad adoption can take place.”
Joshi echoed that sentiment, telling attendees that there simply isn’t enough data available yet to know for sure what the impact will be. And, as Joshi noted, to some it may seem like wide adoption of autonomous trucks is still a long way off. But, “if it’s your livelihood that seems like it’s being threatened, it is an immediate problem.”
“There’s a huge workforce that today travels all across the nation and performs the duties of a professional driver, and it’s been a mainstay of American employment for quite a long time,” Joshi said according to Transport Topics. “Nothing will happen overnight, but automated vehicles will certainly make inroads into that workforce. What we can’t argue about is that this is a reality. There will be a major shift in workforce.”
Source: truckinginfo, overdrive, ttnews, freightwaves, DOT
Pierre says
Autonomous trucks are far from navigation proficiency. GPS systems misread roads and vertical, weight and width requirements all too often still. The massive loss of in person CDL-A drivers is still decade or more away. Plus highway infrastructure accommodations still must be studied, adapted and implemented.
Roy Jenkins says
Do these people not understand we already have a theft problem with trucks ?
Now factor in there’s nobody in the truck and hmmm let’s see !!!! It’s going to be like the wild wild west, a free for all .
Everyone get your popcorn ready it’ll be a show . God Bless
Big Wheel says
Amen
Bill says
That’s a great point I never thought about. Plus I bet every driver is going to carry a little canna spray paint with them. They can’t go far if the cameras can’t see.
Carrie Damman says
Cant wait to see how these trucks handle accident situations and construction zones…because as we all know..computers can falter and can fail…and anyone can operate a computer but not everyone can be a responsible trucker…nothing can replace the human version of the American Truck Driver
DG says
If i see one im running it into the ditch.
David says
Go to Anheuser-Busch in northern Colorado, you’ll find a fleet of those pieces of crap going from there to Las Vegas.
Ralph Lewis says
Hey DG: Don’t do that, to many people will see you do it. Get your cross bow and your razor tipped arrows and give them a couple flats,how about it. Can Ya Dig It
romeycankles@yahoo.com says
Ralph Lewis AKA 1st suspect in a major destruction of property.
MrYowler says
Electromagnetic pulse (EMP)
Steve says
There’s no way this will happen as a year round thing because they haven’t said how it’s going to work on snow and ice in the winter or when it’s raining real hard or if it hits a wild animal and knocks out one of its censors this will never work and take the place of a human driver these big tech company’s talk a lot of shit on a sunny day. 🖕👎
Mike says
Im glad im tired of running constantly i make great money but for what just to pay bills, bring it on take some off the loads away im exhausted. Life is more interesting when you work less.
Jeff says
That’s your fault don’t work as much that’s the problem people keep going keep going and keep going don’t take breaks don’t take days off that’s the problem on the highway now it’s your fault you’re tired and exhausted take time off I’ve got bills to but I’m not married to this truck
Chaos says
As truck driver I have no problem with driverless semi truck, looking for change and get a break. Soon will move to Africa and start some thing there.
David says
Go to bush beer factory in northern colorado, you can find a fleet of them there going west.
Ariel el animal says
Break check the MF
Tonia A Jenkins says
If they can get a big rig down the road by itself ..imagine what they can do to millions and millions of other jobs us lowly humans do..just a thought.I guess we will need the govt. OR whoever to to take care of us .Glad to be leaving this world soon.
Mark says
Yeh let’s let the hacker hack into that truck and run it into a military base hauling fuel and crash into the armament, well you get my drift. Plus they are trying to bring this nation into more of a socialist nation. So when our jobs are replaced that makes us more dependant on the government. Who is funding these corporations doing research to get these types of vehicles on our roads.
You are putting my family in potential harms way , as well as a lot of families. Can’t wait till I read the headlines, Autonomous truck runs in the crowd killing 10 people. When is it going to be enough. You are messing with people’s retirement, way of life, families finances. I could go on and on about this.
Bill says
I know I’m gonna have a little canna spray paint with me. They can’t run if they cameras can’t see.
VanHorne says
What these azz clowns don’t seem to realize is this: If truckers are forced out because they’re no longer needed, ….who needs the schools, the trainers, the regulators and DOT? Who needs the inspectors? Who needs the truck stops except literally for fuel?
Just think of all the other jobs such a shift is going to affect.
Terry says
Actually they won’t need fuel at truck stops either since they will use some type of renewable energy. So it will impact the oil industry as well from the drilling rigs to the refineries hotels to restaurants. If this is the reality of the future there will be mass unemployment of blue collar workers.
Mervyn says
That’s a great point
MrYowler says
Truck stops… Revenue from citations… Lawyers to fight them… The list of economic niches affected goes on and on. But the country will adapt. It will just be painful – mostly for blu collar people. The rich will just get richer, and the government will print or borrow more money, so neither group is worried.
Howard Dunnegan says
VanHorne you couldn’t have said it better! It won’t be just truckers. It will be every single job, business, and livelihood of every small town that a truck stop is in. Along with driverless trucks will come battery-powered trucks. No need for any truck stop. What is everyone supposed to be a truck mechanic?
romeycankles@yahoo.com says
I, for one, support our new robot overlords.
Coyote says
We already have driverless trucks. They’re called driving school graduates
Trevor says
Awesome point Coyote!!!
Love it
Edjahman says
I’m ready to retire after 30+ years.
Please invent these autonomous vehicles like yesterday.
MGE Dawn says
Then retire. Leave those of us who still wanna drive out of it
Jeff says
Exactly I agree 100%
Ted says
https://www.ttnews.com/articles/tusimple-fills-senior-level-posts-executives-ups-walmart
It’s already started!! Southern states already doing this.
Ted says
https://www.ttnews.com/articles/tusimple-partners-major-fleets-launch-autonomous-freight-network
Rufus Crank says
It is a violation of national security. You can’t hack me. Imagine if jb hunt trucks all stopped right where they are. Whole country would be roadblock. You can ask me to drive “off road “to deliver supplies after a storm so people won’t die. Autonomous truck” recalculating… recalculating… ” We are the lifeblood of the nation. We don’t just feed our wallets. Technology only feeds the machine.
Erich E Whaples says
right up until the first one kills someone and they are sued into oblivion.
Long Ride says
It’s coming. Nothing stopping it. Automation in other industries will put millions out of work. The two biggest expenses in trucking, driver pay and fuel. Electric trucks are also the future. Every truck will become a team truck without drivers. They won’t need logs and run 24/7. It’s like winning the lottery for big food companies with private fleets. Im nearing retirement in a couple years. You young fellas need to train for something else. Money is the God of this country. There is no stopping this. Sorry.
John says
As soon as the shipping and receiving clerk, at a small mom and pop business/building that was built 50 plus years ago, (which is the bulk of businesses in the U.S, not cookie cutter multimillion dollar, “smart” DCs, owned by mega corporations, designed by architectural engineering firms) can walk outside, knock on the door and tell it what dock to back into, then I’ll worry.
MrYowler says
There will likely be some radio automation for this, at some point, which mom and pop will have to install. And they will, because cartage costs savings and faster delivery times will make it well worth their while. Humans are a lot more expensive to hire and maintain than computers, and computers won’t need logbooks or parking… They might even be able to justify exempting computers from some speed limits…
Brady Luckenbaugh says
It won’t happen in our lifetime we have the technology to make driverless cars now we have them they’re not on the road because they cannot counter react for human error FAST ENOUGH,(car turning in front of it,ect,ect,)
Can you imagine the litigation in the court rooms
Bill Barbour says
I want to see a driverless truck put on chains when it runs into a sudden snow storm…
Ted says
The computer will do that automatically they have a system already that does this too.
Rodney L Fields says
A lot of people will be out of work
MrYowler says
“driverless trucks might effect truck drivers”
In this context, the correct word is “affect”, not “effect”. This is what editorial review is for, in journalism. Writers should not be the only ones to review their writing for publication. It takes a fresh pair of eyes…
Solo1nme says
I will most definitely Sabotage driverless trucks when I see them.
Spray paint the cameras, flatten tires, put cement in the fuel tanks. Hell, if I can get away with it, I’ll burn those b*tches to the ground.
Big Wheel says
Amen!! Cameras on them Or not!!
JOHN OTR retiree says
Sure yoiu will haha!
Ted says
No fuel though they will operate on batteries.
JOHN OTR retiree says
Bye bye driver time to find something new and different to whine about while doing nothing about it.
JOHN OTR retiree says
Truck Driver=no huevos!
TT says
It will only replace small percentages of various steering wheel holders. The owners will be exempt from any at fault litigation. Flying cars are a better idea.
Jeremy M says
Ya,sure. It was Werner Enterprises,I believe,that were first to implement e-logs. That was was 25+ years ago. Then we were to believe that e-logs were to become mandatory about 10 times with specific date as to when over the years only to be pushed back again and again. That dragged on for years. So,now we are to believe that a system more sophisticated leaps and bounds to that of e-logs is magically going to be implemented when e-logs continue to flounder to this day.
Only in puff the magic dragon unicorn magic dust upside down inverted reality clown world will this ever happen.
sylveste says
They are just playing because they’ll live to regret what they’re trying to do… when you come to some Walmart facilities it’s congested in the way that you can’t even park …. would these truck be doing all this to park in a tight area to wait for a load ???
Steven Mikkelson says
This Story about Computer running trucks is Just A Put the Fear in Truck Drivers, Come On They haven’t Improved On Infrastructure For 70 plus years, They won’t take jobs for 25 years.
TT says
Yep. And now the puff the magic Dragon on steroid strains with teenage brains in a truck that nearly drives itself. It’s a win win for the new normal.
Phillip Nickerson says
Let it go. Nothing will stop it no matter how much you complain. They already have autonomous forklifts because I went to a warehouse near Chicago and seen it with my own eyes. It’s here and nothing’s going to stop it. Time to start looking for a career in technology, real estate, or the medical field. But it will have to be something where humans are still needed.
Dee Kirby says
Good Bye DWI’s! Hello Drunkin cruisin!
Jeremy Herring says
Airplanes have had autopilot for over 50 years yet they still require at least 2 highly trained and rigorously certified professionals up front for the ‘hard stuff’ that technology simply can’t handle, mostly takeoffs and landings but also anything unpredictable during the flight. Also, if the two crashes that caused the entire 737MAX fleet to be grounded is any indication, even highly trained professionals are only as good as the version of the technology in front of them – they can’t make effective human override decisions if someone back at HQ made the decision that the technology is always right and the humans can’t turn it off.
So it will go with autonomous cars but more so in autonomous trucks… A trained driving supervisor will still need to get the rig from yard to highway and later off the highway to the dock. These are not skills any current or predictable near-term technology is going to be able to perform. Once the truck is on the highway and cruising, sure why not let it take over. Where the airplane simile differs though is even if something goes wrong in a flight a pilot still has time and space to work the problem because it takes a few minutes to fall out of the sky. On today’s roads the time it takes just to get the big picture of a situation is usually far shorter than the time necessary to form a solution. Most of our situational awareness and coping mechanism in trucking is instinct honed by unfortunate experience and we don’t think about it until the crisis is already past.
The other issue which I alluded to above is someone is making the decision for the driver beforehand whether he or she even has the autonomy to make that decision or are they really just there to hold the wheel and take the fall when the inevitable collision occurs. Anyone with a recent generation truck has had to come to terms with Automated Driver Augmentation Systems like collision mitigation (hits the brakes for you causing skids) and lane keeping (jerks the wheel to keep between the lines). If there’s no off switch or the situation requires counterintuitive correction, the driver is fighting against the technology which was programmed by someone far away whose life isn’t in the balance at that moment. In short, fleets will decide just how much they trust the technology over their own driver and also how much that driver’s life is worth.
Chances are by the time they get to that level of autonomy all of us today will already be retired. In that scenario the technology can simply be paced to take over at the rate of driver attrition.
John says
I’ll be happy to step out of this truck. Send my unemployment check to Thailand and let me know when you turn the highways into a graveyard. I’ll fly right back and be asking for a triple my wages.
Sincerely,
Exploited Since Day 1