Uber has announced that it is shutting down its self-driving truck program. The move comes as Uber’s self-driving technology has come under fire after one of the company’s self-driving cars struck and killed a pedestrian.
Two years ago, Uber reportedly paid $680 million to acquire a startup called Otto. This was the start of Uber’s self-driving truck program, but also the beginning of a long legal battle. Otto had been co-founded by Anthony Levandowski, a former engineer at Google’s self-driving car division called Waymo. According to Waymo’s suit, Levandowski had started Otto using trade secrets taken from Waymo. This meant that Uber was now allegedly in possession of self-driving tech from Waymo. Just one week after the trail began, Uber settled the suit with Waymo by giving the company $245 million worth of stock.
So after two years and spending – by some estimates – over a billion dollars, Uber is closing down their self-driving truck program. According to Uber though, the company is folding employees from the truck program into their self-driving car program.
“We’ve decided to stop development on our self-driving truck program and move forward exclusively with cars,” said an Uber executive according to The Verge.
Even Uber’s self-driving car testing is struggling however. After the fatal accident, Uber pulled its self-driving cars from the road. Now they’re operating again in Pittsburgh, but human drivers are controlling the vehicles at all times.
Source: gobytrucknews, truckinginfo, ttnews, washingtonpost, arstechnica, theverge
Good. Self driving anything sounds like a bad idea, but self driving trucks with its potential of 80,000 pounds traveling at 70 mph in some states, REALLY sounds like a bad idea.
come on son. you know that a computer is going to see 55 mph and go 55 instead of 65,75,80 and have instant reaction times. LONG LIVE THE MACHINES.
Appreciating the sarcasm
Trucks are governed
by what?
And they always stay in the right lane!
Yea but too many variables with a self driving vehicle that aren’t accounted for to open the door for more issues, yes computers are smart but who do u think made them…
To many things to consider like weather ,glitches even know humans have glitches , gotta have a human to check in out do pretrips etc..the only way self driving semis will ever exist is if they have their own controlled side roads on turnpikes for line hauls where if a accident happens only the truck companies who agreed to be on that road are involved .
Like a self operating run away train. How and where is the safety and trust. I take it the loss of a human isn’t enough to stop the go bots. I know that I wouldn’t trust anything self driving. Tell me can they pass a self written test? Let’s start with the right of ways for pedestrians.
How can you test a self-driving car by having a driver in control? This nonsense needs to stop…..
What’s next for ultra-lazy people? Self-tying shoelaces? Automatic toothbrushes? How about toilet paper, or lawn mowers? Maybe we need to develop a machine that will do our sleeping for us, too
It’s all about the biggest bottom line for businesses… Cut out the worker and that’s one less salary they have to pay.
Exactly I totally agree
We do…
….sleep apnea😅😅😅😅
Oh man my eyes are stuck
They’ve already got the lawn mowers that do it on their own too.
Completely agree. The human race has become lazy incompetent reckless slobs from relying on technology.
The Autonomous cars need to be shut down immediately too !! Stop killing people with this unneeded, technology for lazy people !!
Plenty of people driven cars kill people everyday too.
The human element represents 33.333% of the cost of moving freight. Eliminate the driver, increase profits by 33.333%.
No increased profit. Just lower rates
I totally agree with you …
Jetsons….all I am gonna say….
My boss sure would love something that did sleeping for us. Lol
Douglas I believe autonomous vehicles are tested the same way humans are trained to drive, with another driver in the other seat. When a serious error is about to occur the other driver has the ability to step in. Be it with an override control with autonomous vehicles, and verbal instructions with humans.
As far as why we’re making autonomous vehicles has nothing to do with people becoming lazy, it’s much more sinister than that, it simply has to do with companies not wanting to pay a good wage to a human driver. This is their response to the driver shortage. We could end this driver shortage at any time by simply paying drivers a decent living wage.
Instead of self driving cars. How about y’all start researching on how I can make my semi fly? Let the cars have the road and give me the air. Then the cars wouldn’t be able to hit me.
Actually we already have those coming. They are called drones and all product deliveries will be made this way, completely bypassing the driverless cars and trucks, which we are wasting time talking about. Us truck drivers will indeed go the way of the dinosaurs and travel agents. Soon. 5 to 7 years. Every Friday i buy 1 share of Amazon stock currently selling for around $1750. Been doing it since it was at $365. If they are gonna put me out of business, they are gonna make me rich doing so. Amazon will be at $10,000 per share by 2021. And don’t fret, truckers will land on our feet elsewhere. Most drivers i meet are resourceful.
Give me five years and I will retire.
I guess I need to buy Amazon stock also!
Im a driver as well. I do see Autonomous truck making a mark in this industry, but I don’t see them doing so in the immediate future. Five to seven years, thats a serious stretch, 15-20 is more like it. By then most of the factory workers and executives that run warehouses like Amazon will be replaced by machines, share prices will drop and you will be one of the next shareholders in a company like Enron and WorldCom.
Tidalwave I seriously disagree with you, companies like Budweiser have already completed autonomous deliveries at some of their company plants. The technology is probably closer to two years away in my opinion.
The industries have been making impressive advances in technology, I doubt it’ll take 15-20 years to complete anything started now, including putting a rover vehicle on Mars. Publications like science digest and popular mechanics go in detail on these advances.
so you spend around $80,000 on stock?? and you are driving a truck? mind sharing what company you work for? think a lot of people will be switching jobs this week
If you ever worked for Amazon as a laborer, you wouldn’t support its Slavery and BACKward-moving management practice. We didn’t even get 10-minute breaks during 11-hour standing shifts on hard concrete or a place to sit during breaks. My long-term supervisory co-workers’ lower leg nerves became permanently nerve-damaged — numb — and the American Tradition of “Thanksgiving Day with Family” was declared NULL and VOID by Amazon : you worked Thanksgiving, ( AND the day before AND the day after, ) or else you got fired. Because I temporarily quit locally-driving CDL Class A driving after 5 years to quit not being paid by the hour, till years later when they re-legislated and made my local ( Port work ) job become Paid by the Hour, and because of my not being a truck driver from ’06 to ’17, I worked in entry-level jobs during that time. On those wages, it was near-impossible for about 6 years when I started wanting it again, to get the $5,000 tuition for a “refresher course” that the insurance companies required my CDL-A employer(s) verify I’d gotten. I don’t recommend the decisions I made for anyone on a CDL-A career path. But as an abused AND hard-working, reliable, temporary Christmas season laborer for Amazon, twice, and seeing all their waste of cardboard and fuel let alone clogging our highways and streets with smaller delivery trucks delivering JUNK we Americans don’t need to accumulate MORE of, I can contribute my two cents’ worth to your bragging about “investing” in Amazon. It’s a literally LAW-disregarding, human-dignity-despising, America-contemptuous, greedy, Truly LOSER in the HUMAN sense of thinking of Values, slavery-loving and slavery-craving corporation, that does NOT deserve the support of middle-class, INTELLIGENT, educated, THINKING Americans. Those who support Amazon are destroying their local businesses and communities’ economies as well. The backbone of ANY nation’s Healthy Economy is that nation’s ability to foster healthy competition among honest small businesses starting and growing. Make only the “Amazons” survive, and you have a formula for ANY nation’s economic extinction. AMAZON DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOU, OR ABOUT OUR NATION’S STRENGTH, AND OUR ECONOMIC FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE FROM COMMUNISM. THINKING people avoid buying from or investing in Amazon like the PLAGUE.
Flying Semi, that’s easy. Just load it in the back of an Air Force C-17. It will fly.
Just like an aircraft carrier can submerge- ONCE
I agree. I am a truck driver too
That would require a pilots license, which would mean having to go to school for a lot longer. You think regulations are bad now? Wait until there’s flying trucks. They’ll be scared of having another 9-11.
Good luck, still waiting on the futuristic flying cars we were promised many moons ago.
Where you been?
Back to the Future 111, duh. LOL
I have seen a couple of Flying Cars on the interstate! Seems that their pilot was sadly too intoxicated to keep it in the air long!
Billions or dollars down the drain…amazing.
How about take that money and feed the children and house the homeless if you want self driving vehicles or the closest to it take the train
I swore I said run away trains
Ed, when was the last time you sat (“rode” is inappropriate) on AmTrack? The only thing slower and less reliable is Congress.
Bwaaaahaaaahaaaahaaaaaaaa!!!!😂🤣😂🤣
You mean self driving vehicles aren’t as easy to make as these companies were saying? Us truck drivers told y’all so! Yes we make it look easy but it’s not quite that easy!
Take it as a win for us. Recognition, rates moving up, more loads…i see opportunities for those who hand on and do what they are supposed to do. Next, limited use of EDL for new and drivers with bad records and large companies.
Btw ACC and forward radar are a sham too. I went from almost 7mpg to 5.9, and the radar dectects things that arent there and slams on the brakes. Nothing that robs the living breathing human being from control of the vehicle they’re in should be considered safe
You can override it by keeping your foot on the pedal.
Artificial intelligence has not grown enough to handle the demands of the road and the only way that self-driving cars/trucks will actually be practical is when artificial intelligence becomes more self-aware e.g. the singularity estimated by 2028, even then, it’s questionable.
When it becomes aware, we are in trouble. Check out the debate between the two first IA robots, already determined that humans were a problem.
We need robots to tell us that?
Beaming is good
Self driving vehicles is gonna cost a lots of jobs more the 50% of the jobs is going to be robots not humans the economy is beneficial the rich people and the middle class gets the middle finger y can create more jobs and set taking jobs
Even self flying airplanes (autopilot, auto land auto takeoff) have upto four pilots on certain routes. Is that due to their strong unions or DOT rules? And there are no pedestrians in the sky or runways.
I can’t find my truckers remote control.
Finally this nonsense is stopping !! It needs to stop for cars too!! No more research testing at the expenses of people’s lives in public streets !!
Someone has stolen my remote controlled truck. My remote and my Bobby pin
I was just about to loop my seatbelt thru the steering wheel and wedge a stick to my gas pedal. Then release the brakes and go back home while the truck headed out, tell the receiver it would be there soon. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
Bring back the old old days.
Folks are getting a little “Out there”
I think it is a very scary to think that we (the so called professional driver) can be replaced by a self driving truck. I know that I feel threatened by the possibility. That said, I think only a very foolish person would argue that it will never happen.
Example: If man was meant to fly, the good lord would have given him wings.
We’ve all heard that saying and we kind of “blow it off” here in the 21st century.
It boils down to this. It’s only a matter of time until the technology meets the the standard which will make it affordable and good enough to take over the “steering wheel.” One day drivers will go the way of the buggy whip. I think all of us realize that— but what the heck? We are truck drivers, and we’re steeped in the traditions of those rugged guys who pioneered the profession.
Can you imagine, no power steering? No automatic transmissions? No chain drive (what’s a drive shaft?). And the stories will fill the bar rooms and be told over and over about what grandpa and great grandpa drove and the pride they had in their jobs and how they overcame every scenario imaginable.
Like John Wayne, our time will pass. Hopefully, it’s 20 or 30 years away. I love trucking.
When this self-driving crap first came out, I predicted this would happen — and it did. I could have saved them many millions.
Well If human drivers are controlling them at all times then they are not self driven right?🤔 I knew the Truck program was doomed to fail. There’s no way they will put us out of work any time soon!! Good riddence!!
It was a bad idea to begin with!!
Good – Nip the “Ubernator” before it terminates us..
Will the real Terminator, please stand up! Cars, machines and computers all built by humans; smart, creative, intelligent and always attached to an ego… you folks know the early astronauts ultimately required manual controls to there million dollar “automated” computer rocket systems, built by geniuses, right?
Self-driving cars… where a human is always in full control. I think there’s a name for that already……….
Im happy they have stopped this program … its bad enough that fellow humans flip me the third digit as they pass by…. i was worried that i would have to put up with artificial intelligence flipping me the third digit…..by the way has any of you ever saw the movie series (terminator )
The pedestrian was jaywalking in the dark, and walked in front of the car that was obeying all traffic laws.
Sorry guys, but with 1 million deaths, and 50 million injuries each year due to auto accidents, people behind the wheel are dangerous. Even if the computers cause 100,000 deaths, and 5 million injuries each year, that’s still a hell of a lot better than what we have now.
Computers can use calculus and distance measuring systems down to less than a centimeter. There is no way that any driver can drive with the precision of a well designed computer. But I guess your job is worth more than people’s lives?
Didn’t you say some garbage like this on another article? Centimeters? Millimeters? In a dynamic environment it doesn’t work like that. Come on down to Nissan with a computerized super duper millimeter sensing truck and see if you can get in some of these spots with a sleeper truck. You try to minimize a human’s ability to look at y’all the surroundings, sliding the tandems to make difficult backs, seeing everything. I promise you my deliveries to places built in the 1950s meant for 40 foot trailers aren’t a cakewalk for a computer truck programmed by people who don’t do this line of work.
Right, and a robot can’t thread a needle as well as your grandma, and no matter what I know, and how much information I share, I occasionally meet people, that make it where I just can’t fix stupid.
Keep on living in your utopia trucking world, where docks are thirty feet wide, roads are six lanes wide, and you have a 40acre parking lot to setup. And when you want to look like an incapable moron, bring your computer truck to my deliveries and all the 3D capabilities with you. By the time you and your Texas Instruments calculator have figured it out, I will be at my next stop. You can’t fix a geek who relies on technology.
And you can keep living in your world of the horse and buggy, because the first cars only moved 10 MPH, and were unreliable death traps. There’s no way that they will ever replace a horse that can run up to 40 MPH.
Problem is, a horse can buck, and cars got safer, and faster, and more reliable.
People’s refusal to accept technology has never prevented it from advancing. Either adapt or become extinct. It’s obvious which you choose.
BTW, you’re right. I do love technology. I love typing (part of) an address into my GPS program and having my trip planned in seconds, rather than spending 5 – 10 minutes looking through my atlas, writing down my turns, and relying on other drivers answering my call on my CB, or calling the receiver to tell me how to get to the facility. So, while you’re still looking through your atlas, I’m already on the road. And while you’re on the shoulder begging for help on the CB or making phone calls, I’m backing into the receiving dock (which I usually scope out the facility beforehand with Google Satellite and Street View. While you’re parking your truck, and walking in for a weigh ticket, I used the CAT Scale App, and am back on the highway. When you’re searching for a parking spot, or parking on the off ramp, I’m using an Android app to tell me where parking spots are open, and which fuel island is likely to open up first.
Has my GPS ever tried to direct me under a low bridge? Yes, on a couple of occasions over 12 years. But I see the sign, make a turn, and it rerouted me automatically. Then I updated it so not to do that again, for me or any other driver. (Self driving trucks will have sensors to detect low bridges so they never hit anything, and will update the system automatically.) 1 trip per day, 5 minutes looking through an atlas, that’s 25 hours per year that I’m relaxing, and you’re not. Of course you might just drive the same trip over and over and over, where as I get to enjoy seeing new places. I made the most money on my dedicated route, but it got boring after a couple months.
I like having satellite radio with MP3 flash drive port, a 100 gigabyte music and audiobook archive, a 1 terabyte movie archive, dish network & a flat panel TV securely hung on pickup load locks in my sleeper, a 3000 Watt power inverter, microwave, refrigerator, rice cooker, Nu Wave cookware, and the most comfortable memory foam mattress that money can buy, oh and cell phone with a 20 hour talk time bluetooth headset, and virtual reality games on my laptop.
While you’re waiting in line for crappy tasting fast food, I’m in my sleeper having some delicious stir fry over rice, that I started cooking in the rice cooker at my last stop, and I’m watching a movie, or something that I recorded from the History channel.
HA HA HA, SAY GOODNIGHT DICK!
Your wholesale dependence on technology is just as illogical as someone who doesn’t trust technology. I have a second career I can rely on, but its fairly obvious you don’t operate a truck in real world conditions.
To you, this is a line of work where roads are lined with sensors, vehicles communicate with one another, every variable is controlled. To the people who actually do this job and experience the dynamics daily, we know its not that simple.
I can espouse reason after reason you need a human in the vehicle, and it won’t matter. You think technology is the answer, luddite arms making repairs, etc. I deal with issues such as securing freight after each stop, making quick decisions based on logic, how to navigate parking lots to get on a door, construction zones that pop up and make you go in opposite lanes. Drop and hook in drop lots, driving over curbs, almost having to hit fences to get on doors, having to rub doors to get on docks made for roll up trailer doors, I can keep on all day, but what about liability? Has technology answered that question? Maybe that had a little to do with Uber’d decision, Werner having a $90 million dollar judgement against them not even being at fault, and this week another $100 million verdict against a trucking company.
You expect a steel mill to accept liability when they send a 48,000 lb coil down the road in a truck with no driver? Keep fantasizing while those of us who are capable get it done.
hey source of reality, wake up man from ur deep dream,have u taken xantax or something ?why r u a truck driver in the first place if u r so neat organized and everything goes perfect in ur litte bubble?
Breaker breaker, anybody got a copy on Radio Shack? About 95% of your post about me was wrong. Nuwave oven? App for parking? LOL.
You need to get a job running LTL making good money being home daily. Sure you will have to work harder and back into tighter spots, leave early in the morning, but hey, you are super efficient right?
Then, you can save money on showers and memory foam mattresses, apps for parking, you can eat at your house, shower at home, be off early afternoon and weekends. Then you can buy a real radio to talk on. Is it time to turn on your Nuwave yet?
Some may argue that truly autonomous trucks are at least a couple of decades out but it is my contention that if the technology was available and ready to go today trucking companies wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of drivers.
If robots put everyone out of a job, then how will these companies make money….. they wont have any consumers.
I’ve been saying this all along, since I’ve had the opportunity to drive a level 3 autonomous truck. The features are cool, can take some stress out of the job, especially with adaptive cruise control in variable speed traffic where you can’t pass, and collision alert system which is great for spotting wildlife on the road beyond the range of my headlights to give me extra time, and whatnot. But there’s no substitute for skilled drivers.
If some elements of driving automation find their way into trucks that it fine. Long haul truckers have a difficult job and if some of this makes their life easier then I am for it.
And the answer is: People pay taxes, machines don’t.
Maybe a person that doesn’t drive trucks for a living would think you could automate the process. And what a ridiculous idea. If it was as simple as going straight on a flat road, we wouldn’t have regulations and laws up the ying yang. Would only be as useful as trains, and we already have trains duh. Only took billions in research when they could’ve just asked any truck driver if it was feasible. Hahahaaa smh
I wanna see how fast that
ol’ computer puts the tire chains on to go up the hill in -20 with 1ft of snow …never mind the 4wheelers that love that brake when it gets a little slick…
bad enough up here in Canada
with all the “NEW CANADIANS”
on the roads now…
only way it will ever work is if every vehicle is self driving…
oh yeah….
THE JETSONS !
out…
There are currently a number of autonomous features on today’s trucks. And those are invariably why we go into the shop. In 5 years of driving, I’ve only been into the shop for a handful of mechanical issues. Almost always the technology gone awry.
If they can’t make the simple technological features of today work correctly, what in God’s name makes them think technology can operate the entire truck AND do it safely??? Anyone who thinks autonomous trucks are going to put is drivers out of a job are idiots that just aren’t thinking it through.
Granted, there are a lot of idiots out there. The computer hardware needs to be vastly improved and until that time, we’ll have to operate motor vehicles the old fashioned way using human bodies and human brains.
“In the year 2525, if man is still alive, if woman can survive, they will find……… Many of you have know idea what im talking about. This is a line from a song from by Zager and Evans. Look it up, listen to it, realize it think about it, fear it. Maybe not for your generation,but soon. zVery soon.
And what do we do if a hacker attacks the computer system controlling them? I mean if you have a human controlling the vehicle you don’t have to worry that a foreign government will hack into the system and be able to control our infrastructure and put many lives in danger . Its bad enough that our entire power grid is controlled by computers now were going to take the control away from the humans on the highways to?
The technology has a long way to go before self-driving vehicles of any size are allowed on the roads and highways. Drivers will always be needed in the vehicle for pickup and delivery of freight. One requirement for “driverless” vehicles is a better computer, ideally a quantum computer. The advent of completely automatic freight transportation is at least 20 years in the future.