Walmart is taking the next step with their autonomous truck program. No safety driver. No observer in the passenger seat. They’re going fully driverless.
Walmart has partnered with autonomous startup Gatik for a pilot program to test out driverless trucks. They ran box trucks on a short route between a fulfillment center and a store in Bentonville, Arkansas. Over the past year and a half of the pilot, the vehicles have logged 70,000 miles driving the same two-mile stretch of road back and forth.
According to Gatik’s CEO, they deliberately restricted their pilot program to a small area.
“It’s an approach we refer to as structured autonomy,” Gautam Narang, the CEO of Gatik said according to Engadget. “It’s safe and efficient because it enables us to constrain the challenge of autonomy, thereby heavily over-optimizing our delivery routes and minimizing edge-cases.”
So up until now, the trucks have been driving on incredibly familiar roads, with a safety driver behind the wheel. But starting in the new year all of that will change.
First, that two-mile stretch of road in Bentonville will be travelled by fully autonomous vehicles with no humans aboard. Second, the program will be expanding to Louisiana in order to drive a 20-mile route between Metairie, Louisiana and a Walmart Supercenter in New Orleans. Initially, the new route will have safety drivers.
“This achievement marks a new milestone that signifies the first ever driverless operation carried out on the supply chain middle mile for both Gatik and Walmart,” said a Walmart executive in a statement.
Source: businessinsider, thestreet, engadget, theverge
Ok,but can the system park the trucks and take on fuel. “Doc “40 years CDL Alabama- Minnesota
Of course our jobs will be gone in 3 years.
Whatever happened to the next 20years? I believe they new all along how close they were with these autonomous trucks.
Not after the first computer truck gets hijacked
70,000 miles on a 2 mile stretch
GUYS (gals) autonomy is not easy – our roads and highways are so diverse, some dont even have lane markings – snow LOL whole other issue. It will be long time.
Right On Joseph Johnson: I too have 40 yrs Trucking and 4 million accident free miles. Have been retired now for 12 yrs. Retired early to become my wifes and my mother and Fathers End of life caregiver. I would fined myself layed over on a week end and pull some Walmart from warehouses to stores to stay busy. I would like to know Like you Joseph who is going drop the loaded trailer, pull the empty out from the Dock and back the loaded trailer into the dock?????
Not yet, but what would they do with all drivers who may lose their jobs? So the next phase is, drivers will fuel those trucks until they switch to solar. Than we all can finally take a break, and enjoy staying at home, socially distancing, and collecting food stamps. Those who have home at least…
That’s why we are seeing an increase in fueling services…. Fleet fueling…
And what about tire chains?
Walmart is money hungry they are putting drivers out of work so they can keep all the money. If sam walton was still alive today he wouldn’t ever do that. Wal- mart is greedy..
I wish wally could let their real people-drivers go within the next 2 years! Then they could finally shut their junkyard store-doors nationwide for good after the next solar-flare when their network would be knocked out and with no people-drivers left to deliver to their junkyards, and that is what they deserve from God!!!
Looks like Walmart’s is in the business of cutting out more jobs for hardworking people, time to start shopping some where else
Yep. If there is anywhere else to shop, at least. They’ve run out the competition except for Dollar General in a lot of rural areas.
I get you Joseph but someone can take over the fueling and docking Etc if the truck makes it to its destination. This is the future so jumping in automated truck and be a pilot! I just hauled robots 2 a large food manufacturer in Cincinnati. We Haul for a company that is supplying robots for everyone. The future is coming whether we like it or not. Will adapt just like my father adapted from his horse and buggy to his automobile
We won’t adapt. We’ll be left out in the cold. This is not the same as earlier growth.
You won’t with that attitude.
You’re right, Most of us are too old to do anything else. I have other skills but returning to those trades at 58 years old is not an option. I just need 10 more years then I can safely retire. I know change is coming, just dont go too fast let the last of the Baby Boomers retire first.
I’m 40 years old and I’m already too old as well. The only fields that have jobs now are all STRM based and ageism is a real problem in it. Most people are forced out of it in their mid to late 20s. Now at 40, what am I going to do? Go to med school? Get an engineering degree? Yeah right. Between the amount of schooling required and the internships, residencies, etc, I’d be in my late 50s, early 60s before I’d be done with training.
The only ones that won’t adapt are the ones that refuse to do so. Simply put . if people are unwilling to adapt they will be left behind in the dust of those advancing in life.
The Amish refuse to adapt and they do much better then us jostling out there against each other, just trying to make a living!
You might want to check the family archives again because your dad would have been born in the 1880’s to have ‘adapted from his horse and buggy to his automobile’, which by the way, has been called a ‘car’ since right after World War I.
Not necessarily it took 23yrs to fully adapt from the cheap buggy starting in 1919 when they really started kicking out the model t and it didn’t really fade out till after the great depression in 1939 due to a fall in car sales and fuel prices. Of course depending on areas you lived also affected this.
What’s wrong with you? Dont you see once they get to running trucks without drivers our jobs are done? So your right we will adapt ourselves to the unemployment line ya fool lol
You might want to read the article again they’re taking the safety driver or pilot whatever fully automated nobody in the truck replacing drivers completely taking away jobs
On your father’s case, the horse lost his job. Your dad was still steering the wheel…
You’re drinking the coolade. Wanna get a quick retirement plan on Walmart simply let the thing run you over.
What happens when a traffic light is malfunctioning….or out….?????”?
Never gonna happen. You know WHY they do not test in the north or mountains in the winter time? Those computers can not tell the difference between the snow and the edge line of the road. So fully nationwide autonomy will never happen unless the truck company is willing to repave and paint the roads up here. Remember Michigan has the worst roads in the country and truck specific laws that are only in affect during the frost season which computers cannot be programed to know.
Never say never. I remember a pilot program early on that was conducted on I-15 between Scripps Ranch (N. San Diego) and Temecula CA. A copper wire was imbedded in the lane and a sensor on the truck followed that wire. There was no signal in the wire, just copper set below the layer of asphalt. If there was a break in the wire, there was no problem. The truck reacquired the wire or if not within a certain distance (a couple feet or so), it pulled to a stop on the shoulder.
Look for roadways to begin burying wires in roadways as they repave lanes. It will become SOP, just like when they started painting edge lines on roadways back in the 60’s/70’s.
not going to happen in Pa. these idiots don’t know how to fix a road they can only patch
Well, Max you make a good point. However electronics and satellites will take care of it Well most of it .Wires were a start that has been improved on many times.. Today some GPS devices on the dash alert you to trouble ahead and give a suggested alternate route.Warnings. That will be improved upon.. Thinking for ones self is being taken away from the everyday person. A good example is todays new drivers , not just in trucking . We see it all the time. Can’t park , don’t know how to use a turn signal properly. You get the picture
@ Michael S.
Well, it snows quite a bit in Northwest Arkansas. Ice storms, too. It’s a fairly mountainous area, but probably flat between the DC and the store.
You are so naive to think they will have to pay for those road-modifications! No, sir, they run this country with other big corporations and in no time they will lobby for necessary road modification on tax-payers money!
All hail our robot overlords!!
In 1920, before automation as we know it today was even conceived of, Czech playright Karel Capek introduced the word “robot” (Czech for “forced labor”) in his play Rossumovi Univerzalni Roboti – in English that translates to Rossum’s Universal Robots.
Are we not forced labor ??(i.e.,paid by mile,24/7 work schedules,lack of benefits and home time,WATCHED CONTINUOUSLY BY bIG bROTHER AND sAFETY/hR?)). We are being.slowly at first, by Robots,automation,aNDROIDS.
mORES the pity for the human race.
Yes, Doc. Taking on fuel is actually easy to automate. All a truck needs is an accessible hole to put fuel in and another automated system on the pump can guide the pump nozzel home. Might be a while before it gets standardized though. About as long as it took to put DEF in nation wide.
Probably for electrics trials are just a formality.
Break down, flat tires, blowout, Emergency vehicles, Bad weather, Hackers, Sure glad I am retired…..RP 45 yr. CDL driver.
Just another way for greedy corporations to take the livelihood of hard working people to line their own pockets.
Human beings are designed by their Creator to WORK.
Walmart was a forerunner in robotic warehousing but they recently stopped it. They realized humans were better. It will only take one accident involving these driverless trucks and a huge lawsuit against Walmart to end this as well. Regardless of who’s to blame, Walmart will be left footing the bill. Driverless trucks are the future. But the current collision mitigation technology in trucks cannot even determine the difference between a car, a bridge ir an aluminum gum wrapper on the road. Driverless technology is equally as underdeveloped. It will cause accidents. And because we live in such a litigious society, someone will have to pay. That will be Walmart.
Funny how we humans love to screw ourselves and fellow man, we call it progress. Anything for that almighty dollar, so the few can rule over the many, agree Robot overlords are our future, disgusting.
This is how we get terminators and skynet…
If they wreck who is at fault
1. Box trucks.
2. Two mile route.
3. A very carefully selected, analyzed, ‘sterile’ route.
4. Even with no rider inside, you can bet there is someone in a control room watching the video on computer screens, ready to take control.
5. Located in the deep south. No snow, ice, blizzards.
6. Pickup and delivery locations also are carefully designed to be optimal for the technology.
Those are not small issues to overcome. I contend it is not possible.
two words…YARD JOCKEYS
7) A crash slowing traffic and resulting traffic flow then being directed by a cop the computer won’t recognize.
8) With no driver responsible for the pretrip there is no one with “skin-in-the-game” who would be fired if something is missed. Hypothetical: leaky wheel seal is now dry. Trailer tire then catches fire as it’s moving down the highway. Tire then catches trailer on fire which is still moving at 65 MPH because drivers are *so* 20th century.
9) Deer or horned roadkill flattening tires.
Sadly, all this will only start slowing down when the liability lawyers begin tearing into them because families were killed.
I’m with you. Fully autonomous commercial vehicles are decades ahead. This automated trucks will kill someone, and the insurance companies won’t touch them with a laser from there. Unless big self-insured companies want to play with fire and make small sub-companies who can go bankrupt with every accident, I don’t see full autonomous trucks on the road ever. See airplanes; fully automated flights are now happening over our heads, but there is no chance of fully autonomous no-tripulation airplanes.
We sent a robot to work on Mars. Don’t doubt our abilities.
There is no one on Mars to run into
And how many oncoming vehicles do our robots have to avoid or how heavy traffic have they to overcome on Mars??? LOL.
People! The autonomous truck was tried for years by Merecedes in Germany and was a TOTAL failure. You CANNOT replace all the thought processes and decisions with a machine!!!!
@ Don Hansen
One bone to pick. Arkansas is NOT the Deep South. South Central, maybe. Bentonville is almost in Missouri, and it is in the Ozarks. Trust me, there IS snow and ice. It isn’t Michigan, but there is plenty of snow and ice up there. South of I-40 there isn’t much winter, but northern Arkansas can be wicked.
He was referring to south Louisiana, where the article says, the next (after Arkansas) longer runs would run without a human. Last time I checked around Mardi Gras, there was no snow in New Orleans!
It’s going to be a long while before automated trucks take over final mile and delivery services, also things like crude oil hauling fuel hauling and food and beverage delivery
Thanks Walmart. “WE” look forward to
working with you in the future! – “The Hackers”
Its nothing more then a ticking time bomb. All it will take is one major accident. Just my opinion.
JEFF B. of Amazon had a Driverless Truck Smash into a School Bus killing 17 & kept it out of the News & Social with lots of Money. Walmart will di the same.
Can’t wait to see how UPS and FedEx go door to door with robots.
A guy in the passenger seat making $8.25 an hour to run from door to door
who gonna take the packages to your door from the truck
It is happening now in some locations . The “driver” for the most part just carries the package to the door. Been testing for some time now and no one sees it.
Right On Tommy Molnar. Back to Walmart. Swift is destroying enough equipment now with drivers in the truck. Is their way of thinking to remove the driver and go for robotects and electronics. Not a very smart plan in my book.
lol they won’t tell you about the straight truck that soaked into the dock are the car that was hit pulling into the dock. how do I know? I’m a company driver for Walmart. I’ll be long retired before they ever get these things right and I’m driving for ten more years .
This is progress wether we like it or not. It would affect the newbies on trucks. The older guys and girls still have some time.
I agree I’ll be dead and gone before this takes my job driving through down town Chicago. Someone step off in front of it and it’s now Walmart and Joe’s super centers 😵
This comment is not political, but as Coyote pointed out, this I inevitable. It’s being shown over and over that autonomous vehicles have fewer accidents than human counterparts and when Technologies like Mobileye are fully developed, drivers are going to be replaced. Automation will result in tens of thousands of job losses, but I guarantee CEOs will continue to make huge salaries and the little guy will lose. Policies like UBI needs to be implemented to ensure everyone isn’t living under bridges while the super wealthy drink champagne on their exclusive trillionaire islands.
Let’s replace the driverless trucks with drivers that don’t know how to drive.
So swift and werner drivers
Already have them. They can’t read ,can;t communicate, can’t make a decision for themselves and expect a perfect world in trucking they have no business in.
Winter driving through the Canadian rockies? Never going to happen without a driver!
Wow it’s all SNAFU-FUBAR!!
Will be a dip in revenue for fmcsa for driver violations. Remember when Obama was pres, when the violation fund got misplaced. If Dems take over, they will need a suppliment.
One goal of a corporation is the obvious “Reduce Labor Cost by Any Means Possible”. When you hear these politicians and corporations talk about creating jobs. It’s probably jobs where a robot can eventually take over or they are temp jobs.
If I worked at a plant or warehouse in shipping and receiving, I would just stand there and wait for the robot truck to open the doors, back in, chock the wheels, and what ever else it takes to deliver the load. After 35 years of driving, there is no way I would get in that truck. Truck stops are all self serve, so how is it going to fuel up. And Deadwood is so correct with road hazards and bad northern weather. As far as someone sitting in a control room watching and ready to take over if something was to happen, that would mean wi fi control. Oh How easy it is for computers and internet to be hacked into. Imagine by looking at the big picture what is going to go very sour with that idea. How aware of it is the general public ??
One another way, to prejudice against truck drivers.. all good.. the conspiration against humanity are real e big boxes such walmart are leading the humanless work place, asia is the leader, on slavery usa leading authonomous.. all.for.get.more power and money to big boxes ceos.
Walmart can afford this undertaking. It’s got billions and probably is self insured to face any financial responsibilities that may arise from liability claims.
Yes the future is here and it ain’t nothingone can do to stop corporate America to benefit from emerging technologies to maximize profits I suggest truck drivers to plan to recycle themselves to other vocations like ambulance drivers for example. A job with a bright future same as much I predicted in the past the job for injury lawyers to boom due to distracted drivers crashing.
Stay tuned.
Ambulance drivers make $10 an hour!
Not Within A Thousand Years – Wright-Brothers.orgwww.wright-brothers.org › Inventing_the_Airplane
He certainly hadn’t accomplished his goal of flying for hours, testing and … on the train ride back to Dayton, “Not within a thousand years would man ever fly.”.
The easiest transportation device for automation there ever was was rail. They’ve had the capacity to fully automate it for many years and haven’t done so. The concequences for failure being too agreeduous to contemplate. The realities of the road, a little snow can’t see the lines in the road, road hazards etc. Will kill it. It looks good, but the real nuts and bolts are difficult without real AI. This is a way to try to get around paying wages that would fill seats and in the end will just cost more.
Well it seems they got it all figured out! I don’t think I would want to be in the vehicle next to it when the auto pilot crashes. I’m sure they got that factored into the plan. All it will take is one major sensor to go out.
I see huge lawsuits and bankrupt companies in the future. Autonomous vehicles are dangerous and pure stupidity.
I am a truck driver for 23 years and if it becomes a reality I will buy 3-4 automation trucks and stay at home and just watch my bank account( like many other “humans” highly intelligent primates).
You won’t be able to buy them.
Only big corporations will have the “operating system” to run them.
There will be no market for small operators.
no driver = no need for you at all
Now is the time for drivers to rethink Truck driving and to learn something else to earn a living doing.Drivers today no longer look at truck driving as a career. Just a job. So losing just a job is no biggie in the real world.working a Mikey D’s is just a job .When factories and the auto motive manufacturing began using robots to build stuff should have been a wake up call. Your never too old to learn something new. Don’t cheat yourself because your afraid to change a habit. Get out of your comfort zone and take a look around you . Now a look at the self driving truck. Sure it’s ok to have it run a perfect pre planned short route with no bumps or issues. but if an accident delay on a longer run requires a detour of several miles and several turns can it handle it or does it sit ?. Questions to be answered. Drivers , either you adapt and learn a new profession or skill or you are just cannon fodder sitting on the side lines wondering what the hell happened.Nobody else is going to do it for you
Exactly! I change careers every decade, lol!
What are the lot lizards to do,bang thin air?
I wonder how many people will die because companies want to make a few more dollars.
If you think autonomous trucks are taking over within the next 5 years, then you might as well learn a trade. I personally think it will be longer than we are constantly made to think. A two mile pilot program means nothing to me. They’re constantly scaring people into not getting their cdl bc those people think “why bother?” With that mindset, we could see a sudden need for autonomous trucks. All I know is people aren’t as forgiving of technology as they are of each other. 1 crash resulting in a fatality from this pilot program will end it. Don’t think an old dog can’t learn new tricks though guys. Thats a stereotype that enables government intervention. We don’t need Andrew Yang. We’re better than that.
It comes down to big corporations wanting to cut labor cost. Corporate greed. Don’t get me wrong the new generation today is lazy, but how are they going to survive when computers n robots take over. Cuz honestly I believe this is the beginning of the end. Like everyone is saying the computer will not be able to do what is humans can do. Recognize road conditions, winter storms, faulty equipment, etc, etc. BEGINNING OF THE END OF TIMES.
It’s more about safety-these autonomous trucks have lots if cameras & sensors, human error is common, plus drivers are texting & driving, drinking alcohol, on drugs…check out Tu Simple.
Just another way to make us all dependant on big brother. Remove all means of being self suffcient.
The only eay to hurt the mega corporations is to stop shopping at them.
Edward.They are doing that now in our colleges and schools.the future of our country is one step behind us moving forward in a head long rush into the unknown.
I have read almost all the comments, and yes there is points on one or another for which there is no clear answer, yet. But it’s the future, and probably in 10 or 20 years, we will have to find other opportunities, it’s scary , but future will arrive. And yes I’m pro robots, only if there is a way to give jobs to the people, not just replace them.
The Lawyers are licking their chops! Those deep pockets well get bleed
Walmart keep that crap and I keep not buying from them. Why I have to give to them if they are going to steal from me.
Drivers, listen up. listen to your selves. Same stuff that was said when the first automobile was offered to the public. It was going to put farmers our of business, It scared the horses, cows will be giving sour milk. It was going to ruin cities .It is going to kill people.It is to noisy. It was a bad thing, blah blah. Look at what we have today. Every where you look is a automobile. The car made our lives so much better. You can’t survive with an automobile today.
… They’ll put these things on the highway. They’ll be responsible for numerous deaths. The government will be OK with it because 99% of the population will survive them …
I remember being in the retail industry and hearing about self checkouts. We thought it was the end of cashier’s. Well, as you see, there are some self checkouts combined with regular check stands with real people. So these self auto pilot trucks could possibly happen but not to the point of replacing all of us. I think they’re still a lot to consider besides just the truck. AI… the demise of the future!!!
so when someone gets killed because there is a glitch in the computer and the truck kills someone who gets the vehicular homicide charge . im guessing tesla got off on their murder charge because there was a person in the car that was supposed to take charge so it wasnt their fault when the computer couldnt tell the difference between a dry van and blue sky and drove under it killing the driver
40 yrs driving.All long haul cheap freight is already driverless. It’s called rail container.u still need drivers for tanker and livestock and short haul dock to ltl delivery. Not everyone orders loads by the truck. More order 1 pallet at a time.can a robot chain a load and del multiple stops.Keep Trucking it is essential
The “saftey features” on my truck currently think it’s about to run into itself constantly and if the accelerator is not held down will randomly auto brake constantly. The truck thinks it’s thats fine. Hope walmart and all the others that put profit over lives get the lawsuits of the centuries when their robots start killing.
The hackers will have fun with this. Adapting this means jobs gone.Just like everything else. It may create a couple full service jobs.If they are taking out pilots,then there that goes. Low waged employees at shippers and receivers to back trucks. If they are hybrid,theyll run for a longer while and have substations.
So this is the end of trucking as we know it, and perhaps Walmart’s autonomous trucks will be replaced by Amazon’s door-to-door drones. AI is not far from taking over. Maybe this is all leading to humans not working at all to make a living. Perhaps it is leading to humans letting tech take care of all that and people will all resort to being artists and creators of some kind, taking better care of the planet and animals, giving us time to re-aquaint ourselves with nature. Would that be so bad? Then, of course, there is space exploration. The end is always a new beginning. The trick is in finding ways to make the transfer of energy as smooth and painless as possible.
What a miserable end to an honest way to make a living. Sure appreciate my mid five-figure Teamster pension, with Social Security payments coming soon.
Lucky duck!
It will take longer than 3 years. the technology will be ready long before lawmakers and insurance co are. The only jobs will be niche or local delivery jobs. OTR is dead for the next gen of drivers.
We are the dinosaurs and I can see the comet coming.
It will take longer than 3 years. the technology will be ready long before lawmakers and insurance co are. The only jobs will be niche or local delivery jobs. OTR is dead for the next gen of drivers.
We are the dinosaurs and I can see the comet coming.
So look at all the other places that will lose-jobs . Truck stops, restaurants. States that write tickets for revenue.
Can’t wait to see how and how to slide tandems and scale trucks. You know the greed will create the company wanting to load them to the max. Wonder how it is gonna work when the load speaker say pull it around back drive and bring in your paperwork
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I have no idea if I’ll take the job, but I have an interview coming up to go to work for one of the companies bringing this technology to market. If I take the job, I’ll be gambling that it will take a very long time to perfect the technology, but if I don’t take the job, I’m still gambling that it will take a very long time to perfect the technology. I might do it. I’m not sure.
“Autonomous” me up this. Heavy spec’d Pete 378 pulling 4 axle 53’flatdeck navigating into a job site where a new Ferry Terminal is being constructed. There’s a “vibro” and accessories to be loaded on the deck. “Vibro” is too big to set on deck standing up. Disassemble from stand and lay on deck. 32,000 lbs and 11 feet wide. The power pack weighs in at 26,000lbs and the stand at 9500 lbs plus other stuff like hoses etc…. Who’s going to orchestrate the placement of this stuff on the deck? Can’t just plop it down anywhere. Axle weight restrictions,etc.. The construction crew hasn’t the foggiest. Who’s going to chain it down? There’s formula to that. Again,construction crew don’t know squat about that.
Now,lets start rolling this out of town onto the big road. 5 hr drive ahead to destination. Better stop and check load securement. Who’s doing that? Travelling through the 5th largest city centre in North America on this route,too.
Autonomous my ass! That’s never happening in the sector I work in.
This is assinine stupid. Dangerous, Need i remind you of the uber car that killed someone because of automonous vehicles. 30yrs driving accident free. It’s bad enough for us to deal with these idiots on the roads now let alone a runaway driverless truck.
I hope No one get’s killed when this truck does something, and then I hope it puts Walmart UNDER!!
Have any of you guys noticed that it was only a 2 mile stretch of rural road. If they were so sure that this technology works, why are they putting a safety pilot into the ones going to New Orleans? They way people drive out there nowadays, I honestly don’t see these things working for some time. All it takes is one death or serious injury and the program will be put on hold. Just you watch and see.
Robert. Good point .However you know as well as the rest of us money talks and the guilty walks and the person injured will be found at fault of the accident absolving the truck owner of any responsibility. The possibility of that happening is very probable.
This is most definitely in our future. The question is what will be the timeframe? Modern trucks are a far cry from when I started 39 years ago. The technology has come s long way. I wonder though, when my adaptive cruise control misreads an object in its path or a sensor gives a false reading in the trucks computer it takes a driver to react and evaluate the situation to keep the load moving. I also wonder why trains don’t operate autonomously. I too hope to keep trucking for another 9 or so years.
Good luck brother truckers.
Huge lawsuits waiting to happen, may take wallyworld down a notch or two.
Man! That’s a lot of comments. Remember folks when the TVs and the cars and electricity first came out it was many many years before everyone had those things. Some people still don’t. Will your company invest in automated vehicles and everything that’s involved in having them? They will be on sale to the public in 2024. If you’re retiring in 10 or 20 years I think you’ll be good to go on that
Buy NOTHING from any company that uses driverless trucks.
Nice. Makes me wonder if they’re ready to handle the liability when there is an incident involving a driverless truck. The PR backlash will be extreme.
People get Killed today and it is not the car or trucks fault. The drivers, operators make bad judgment calls and accidents happen and many times fail to engage brain. Either from speeding. driving drunk or just plain stupid. It is going to happen. Fall from a ladder and get killed or injured. Is it the ladders fault?
How often do we hear of an automobile taking off on it’s own and causing an accident and or death.?? Running rampant around town causing damage. NEVER. Should it start now with a Semi?. If these trucks are so easy to hack what is stopping some hacker from going nuts hacking several at a time? “‘I guess we are being told we humans are too stupid to be trusted behind the wheel of a vehicle and technology is so much safer.”
How may remember when the ECM was first put in Semi trucks to run the engine? CA HP wanted a hand held unit they could carry in the patrol car that could electronically shut down a semi on the highway by disabling the ECM . Aren’t you glad they never got it? When it comes to these autonomous trucks they are not telling you how easy it can be altered . Lightening charge near by, frequencies getting mixed due to electric charges and drops in voltage, heavy over cast.One bad electrical connection that works loose and no longer accepts commands.So many things to go wrong.. How is this autonomous truck going to be controlled when somethings is bad in the main computer or receiver antenna system that does not respond to the commands ? Lots of questions unanswered.. Too many not answered to be comfortable with.
Technology can be amazing. Take the GPS for instance.have you ever thought of how many are in operation on our highways in a day? Say 500,000 GPS units of all brands in all kinds of vehicles are turned on and being used in a day around the US. Satellites do this constantly. How? That is a lot of signals and communications going on every second of the day. Do they mess up ?. We think they do when the GPS tells us to do something we question. But was is a glitch? If that same kind of satellite can read your license plate from space why can’t a joy stick using that same sat system back a trailer into a dock or negotiate city traffic? Options galore. Many we have not thought of yet. As far as needing a driver or person to crank the dollies and pull the pin. Already done with out the person . Years ago we flipped the switch on the dash to unlock the 5th wheel. Yard jockeys ring a bell? There is already for many years air and electric gearing on the dollies to do the cranking. So that is removing the body from the equation.Remember Gateway trucking? They and a couple of other carriers were testing it back in the late 60s early 70s. did not seem to catch on.
Another reason to avoid Walmart.
100% of the presentations of Autonomous trucks depict a perfect truck simply driving on a perfect highway in perfect weather in a perfect world with almost no other vehicles on the road.
There is ZERO indication that the designers of these things have ANY understanding of all the complexities of one normal day of truck driving in one particular state, let alone the thousands of variables a driving may face driving across different states in varying weather and to out-of-the-way locations.
They talk ENDLESSLY about improved economics, but ZERO about how such a truck is supposed to guide itself in a real-life situation.
Not necessarily it took 23yrs to fully adapt from the cheap buggy starting in 1919 when they really started kicking out the model t and it didn’t really fade out till after the great depression in 1939 due to a fall in car sales and fuel prices. Of course depending on areas you lived also affected this.
All those trucks and no one to keep the cargo safe, right on. I’d feel bad robing a driver plus its risky, but a machine nah, no guilt there.
Highway Piracy, what’s old is new again.