While the White House’s infrastructure plan is still in its early stages, one DOT official made it clear how he thinks some of the infrastructure money should be spent: Self-driving truck lanes.
Addressing a conference at the Brookings Institute late last week, DOT Undersecretary for Policy Derek Kan told the gathered audience that money could go towards funding self-driving truck lanes, especially around industrial areas and freight hubs.
President Trump’s infrastructure plan calls for $200 billion in federal funding to help spur an additional $1.3 trillion in funding from the private sector and state and local governments. According to Kan, self-driving truck lane projects could qualify for federal funding as a “transformative” transportation project. Additionally, federal money could be used to help incentivize private companies to partner with states to create self-driving truck lanes.
“I could see an early project with some of the transformative money and some of the infrastructure incentives money going to a state that says we have a partner where we’d like to demonstrate a new technology such as self-driving trucking,” said Kan during a panel discussion.
Regardless of how they’re funded, Kan sees these first self-driving truck lanes as a potential proof of concept.
“This not only allows us to de-risk self-driving trucks, but it also allows us to demonstrate technology,” said Kan. “And by having a dedicated lane, you then allow for risk of less accidents because if a self-driving truck runs into a barrier, nobody is really injured.”
shogun says
Since you need to be brainless to work in govt, can’t they automate it? Barriers? How do you get off the highway genius? How do other self driving trucks get around it, by levitating? Let’s spend a lot of money to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. There is no driver shortage, eliminating drivers will not lower shipping costs, and trucks are not at fault 80% or better in accidents so save it.
Anthoni DeLaCueva says
Well, FYI:There is a driver shortage. But this is hardly the fix. What the Government is NOT telling anybody is the danger this plan posses on it’s citizens. they plan on having a 40 ton truck traveling at 65 mph on Americas highways sharing the road with our families. just imagine one of these unmanned trucks going out of control and killing your 16 year girls that just got her license. food for thought.
Shogun says
False. The DOT registers 40,000 CDL a month. One month in a year is almost enough to cover the fabricated 50k shortage. Trucking companies lying and treating drivers like garbage lead to empty seats. Is every shipper or receiver eager to unload or load you? No, because there aren’t overwhelming amounts of loads waiting for trucks to take them.
Dave says
I heard a statistic that out of the 40k CDLs issued that only 40 of them are OTR and still driving after 1 year. That’s the argument I heard when I said the same thing.
my 2 cents
Gary says
Respectfully speaking, shotgun is correct. There is no driver shortage. If there was, the rates wouldn’t be so low. First, let’s look st who is saying we have a driver shortage. There’s no freight sitting on anyone’s dock rotting away; so the shippers aren’t saying it. It’s the mega carriers saying it. They have 10, 15,000 trucks but 3 or 4,000 drivers shy of filling them. They either need to get rid of them or up their pay and benefits. That way, they won’t have that problem. Honorable mention, stop buying inadequate equipment. Some of these trucks I see out here are so small, you drive them from the sleeper.
Shogun says
That’s right Gary. Cheap freight sits, and lying companies who treat drivers poorly have a driver shortage. The good jobs, the ones you have to know someone to get, the ones where someone has to retire or move out of the area for an opening? Those companies don’t have a shortage because they pay well, keep up equipment and treat drivers well, and the customers appreciate them too.
Matt says
Interesting Shotgun, can you give me some examples of companies that do not have a driver shortage?
Fred Hall says
Amen
Tony Black says
They already have dedicated lanes…their called trains…more traffic issues…time to setup a true national truckers union…and STRIKE
Harvey says
Right
MrYowler says
That will just speed this along. They will convert existing lanes to automated vehicle lanes, speed up approval for drone (remotely-controlled) semi-automated trucks, and rush in more refugees and immigrants to take our places.
To be effective, a strike must consist of workers who are difficult to replace. Truck drivers aren’t, despite all the complaining about driver shortages. If we were, they’d be treating us better and paying us more.
Brad Tolley says
The less skill it takes to drive a class 8 truck, the more people there are out there that can do it. Less skill equals lower pay. I don’t care what the truck makers say, there will never be an automatic transmission that can shift as skillful as a professional truck driver. The automatics cost more to manufacture thus they make more pushing them out the door. How about proper training for how to shift a non- synchronized manual transmission? No that won’t work because the big companies will lose money training and actually investing money in their workforce. Taking the hard earned skill out of the equation is not the answer. Proper training and promoting a positive image of the professional truck driver would better solve this GOOD driver shortage.
Charli says
He’s an idiot looking for another cash cow for his idiot kids
Robert says
What they need is dedicated truck only lanes for all of us human truckers. No cars allowed anyone caught loses license for 30 days. That would solve the accidents with cars. Then all we need is a trucks only lane for the super truckers. Keep them away from me so I can live another day.
Patricia Louise Munsch says
Robert to lose a dl for 30 days is nothing anymore. I’d say at least 30% of people don’t have them anyway. If someone would stand up for the driver and actually pay for all the hours they’re in that truck , offer a decent wage ,there would be no shortage of truckers.
Carl Whitehead says
They need to make the left lanes for us and fine any cars that get in it. Since trucks don’t get off the roads as much as cars
James Allen Oglesby says
The shortage is of decent pay and working conditions, NOT DRIVERS!
There is a pay point where nearly anyone would want to drive a truck…. $30,000/yr? no… $50,000? $100,000? $500,000/yr…. heck, everyone and their cousin would be out here…. It’s all about the Benjamins… The job is getting done now (no rotting freight on docks), but they just think 18y/o people with less experience in the world will do more for less with less complaining.
Jim moore says
What. A trucker who doesn’t want to pass his brother trucker and block the other lanes while doing 2 mph more?
Max says
you can see where the money to politicians is coming from: the companies developing self driving vehicles. This idea has Elon Musk written all over it. Always seeking more government handouts, promoting the nearly impossible, but not able to produce (yet) what he promised years ago…his Tesla car.
Oh sure, there are a few of them out there, but they are hampered with all kinds of problems and he can’t get the production line to deliver anything near what he promised.
Now he’s ‘developing’ a boring machine that will build tunnels all over the LA basin so his ‘hyperloop’ system will move people at incredible speed.
A rocket ship to Mars with ‘settlers’ on board. A self driving truck…”and now, in this ring, I give you separate lanes for self driving trucks! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!…the best little government money grabbing show in earth!
Lets start with the basics. Let’s rebuild the crumbling roads, bridges and interstates.
Want safer driving lanes for trucks? Let’s partner with companies like Pilot, TA and Loves to build a thousand more truck stops all over the country so tired drivers can safely take a break without wandering all over God’s green earth just trying to find a parking spot.
Mandate a safety education course on how to drive around trucks for every person who applies for a drivers license.
Mandate three days training where prospective LEOs spend riding in the cabs of trucks so they can begin to grasp what drivers face every day.
And how about public safety messages on all kinds of media reminding readers of safety requirements for trucks. i.e., safe following distance in trucks is 3-5 time more than cars.
If they want independent lanes for trucks, go for it! But make those lanes for ALL trucks, not just self driving vehicles.
James Allen Oglesby says
There won’t be any other kind of truck (but self-driving) when the technology is perfected… When that will happen, who knows? But I am betting that it will…
RenoBlues says
Self driving trucks are supposed to have a human inside monitoring them. At least that’s what they keep saying. So when you say”no one is really injured” Mr. Kan. Do you mean no one who matters? Or do you mean no one you really care about? Corporate puppet d-bag.
Noble says
Let me get this straight in my head….our taxes from trucking is going to help pay to put us out of work?
Keith Urbanski says
Corporate profits take precident over safety once again. What we really need is more attorneys with advertising on TV and Billboards posting huge settlements.
LarrydontLie says
We have self driving trucks, they are called trains.
John says
Who is funding this brainstorming ideas? Tax payers. Who benefits from this idea? A few corporate money grabbing bigwigs. So the population of the USA is to support something they will not benefit from? Wake up people. I thought that we were a democracy not another neo-nazi government. Pay off the right people and you get what you want at the expense of the people. “To defend the Constitution against ALL enemies foreign and domestic.” And if the OOIDA is reading this, fight it now or we will know you are paid for by the ATA to shut up.
Anthoni DeLaCueva says
I was under the impression that the reason we voted for Donal Trump was to make America great again. This is definitely NOT the way. Automating our highways will leave a lot of Americans out of jobs not to mention making our highways a dangerous place for our families. I wonder how much money he received from lobbyists.
Buck says
Wow you have to be a robot truck to get what us drivers have been saying for years. TRUCK ONLY LANES
Gary griffin says
Yes I agree.stike.lets band together for once.
Pete 389 says
LOL…here we go agin drivers! With the recent MURDER of a pedestrian by an autonomous vehicle the public will fight this tooth and nail. Our highways are not the autobahn. 4 Wheelers already don’t abide by the Truck only lanes that we do have so who’s going to enforce this when a 4 wheeler sees that the lanes meant for autonomous trucks only are moving or have no traffic at all in it due to the actual number of autonomous trucks NOT on the road?
You better believe there’s an ulterior motive or thought behind this lame brain idea and it’s definitely not for the betterment of US. Sad to say that unless we all put aside petty differences and unite for a day or week and just shut down nothing will change.
Old man says
A DOT official says…that says it all.
Ginger says
I’d rather see truck dedicated lanes…
Singto Syvoravong Stormrider says
Laughable subject. Keep finding ways to fix a broken system. Automated trucks are a joke. A self driving car already killed someone recently and they want self driving 80k trucks. Lol freakin hilarious! The only conclusion will be manned automated trucks which would be pointless. Basically a high tech cruise control. Truck driving is such a shitty industry. Similar to people who’ve never worked a day in they’re life tell a hard working slave to work harder.
MrNA says
Yeah Reno Blues I caught on to that one real quick. KAN stands to get a boot to the head.
John, OOIDA is definitely not getting paid, nor an ally of the ATA. It is the ONLY voice representing ALL truckers regardless of company, lease or true OO.
Anthoni, I too am getting upset with Trump. It seems he does not have our best interest. No HOS change, mandatory unfounded ELDs, un related DOT Med regs re surfacing, tolling the Interstates, private sector ownership. I hope he is just uneducated and not being bought.
Pete 389, I agree. Put down our petty differences, unite as the Drivers we are and protest. Bring light to the unfair burdens and labels that have slowly been put on our backs. Drivers we are the Back Bone. All the so called brains, legs, arms and bellies dont get the job done. We do. Lets try to each take a step and reachout and talk with each other. The strikes of the 70’s and early 80’s got stuff done. Seriously, no one can be happy looking for parking spaces last minute. Eating cafeteria food. Waiting to load, unload, in traffic. work 80-100 hours a week and get paid for half. Expected to use third world restrooms and facilities. Pay for or jump hoops to comply with regulations that provide zero safety benefits. Regulations that make stuff shirt no nothing talking heads salaries four times more than yours,. You are on the road sleeping in a truck for half your life or more. In probably some udesirable areas trolled by leaches and criminals. You make and keep commitments and are entrusted with a large share of duties and Public Safety Some of us don’t experience all or even one of these problems but that is no excuse to ignore your Brother or Sister.Do you know in France Drivers organized and were successful in negotiating a 35 hr max work week that affords enough pay to support their family. More money sounds good to me. What the hell is the matter with us.
David Heberling says
new 2016 volvo truck REAR DRIVE SHAFT OUT OF PHASE, FRONT WHEELS LOSS, FRONT WHEEL BEARING LOSS, TOOL BOX DOORS LOSS, HOW REAR ENDS GOING OUT BECAUSE OF DRIVE SHAFT. VOLVO CAN’T BUT A TRUCK TOGETHER WRIGHT
Pete says
Yea, lets’s spend to money on new lanes for self driving trucks, meanwhile everyone else can continue driving on the pot holed torn up roads with deteriorating bridges and tunnels. Never under estimate the stupidity of our so called legislators.
Patrick Norton says
Self driving trucks; and who would do pre-trip inspections or file unsafe vehicle claims without a driver. Self driving tractors pulling junk trailers? That should work?
Wigg says
I’m a O/O I’ve been ready to go on strike for years, but to many driver can’t afford to take a week off because of there high truck payments. We will never come together! But until we do come together, we just sit by and let the government screw us!
Jamar Weston says
Talk about an 18 year old being allowed to drive interstate is unsafe, any vehicle that a driver lets operate it self entirely is using unsafe judgement period. Only thing we can solely rely on is the driver, what is the point of self driving vehicles???? If you want to fix something in the industry create laws that customers have to load or unload us quicker, create more truck parking, fix the HOS some drivers can drive more.. Self driving vehicles have no major impact we have cruise control.