Those worried about self-driving trucks taking your jobs, don't!

It will be handled through the trailer also having diagnostic software to show something is out of calibration. The other question I see alot of is "how will the truck handle wind gusts, inclement weather, etc... again, the answer is sensors and enhanced processing. The truck I saw the other day sensors told temperature, wind direction, humidity, etc...., yes there were still drivers with it but they were there for the just in case scenarios.

 

How much is it going to cost to put sensors on literally everything? There are so many variables out there to account for. Wheel bearings can get hot and burn. They going to put a heat sensor at each wheel end?

How about vibration? A driver can tell if there's an odd vibration developing. They going to put sensors to monitor abnormal vibrations on the truck/trailer?

Loose straps/broken straps? Strap sensors?

Wheel seal sensors? diff level sensors? Brake adjustment sensors? What about smell sensors? You can smell a coolant leak long before engine protection shuts it down. What about smelling a fuel leak? Or burning gear oil on a brake from a blown wheel seal. You can smell that before you even get out of the cab to look.

They can try but its going to take a very long time before a computer can compare to the observational skills of a human. Humans can see the big picture, computers can only see what the various sensors tell them.

 

You're blind or delusional if you think a computer can't do as well or better than this current crop of drivers in the industry. If you compare a computer to quality truckers You're right, but those are exceedingly rare.

 

Maybe you need to move, about 80% plus here are great drivers.

 

As a member of the 20%, let me be the first to welcome our robot overlords.

 

Real scenario here:

I was travelling west on a secondary highway. Another vehicle was way off to my right (north) and headed south towards the highway I'm on. I'm about a kilometer from the intersection and he's hauling ### towards the intersection. There's a few patches of trees along the road there as well. He looks like he might blow the stop sign so I back off and proactively plan for him to blast right on thru. Sure as #### he's on gravel and can't stop worth a crap. He ends up stopped a foot or 2 into my travel lane. No big deal I already had a plan and simply drifted over a bit and continued on my way.

Is a computer and all these fancy sensors going to be able to see a car way off to the side like that through some thin patches of trees and be able to proactively defuse the situation before it happens? My money is on no. It'll spot the car last second and hammer the brakes. Probably still clipping the other car in the end.

 

It's nationwide, it's bad enough when it's 4 wheelers, but these large cars and lack of decent training are why there's more call for automation.

That same scenario with some driver on his phone, nevermind it being illegal, and he doesn't look up in time to see the event. Watched a semi driver go off road and roll 2 days ago on I-30, just before it occurred there was a driver screaming at him on the cb to hold his lane.

 

I'll send my worst 20 drivers out in 20 trucks on a typical haul, and truck makers can send out the best 20 self driving trucks made.
Lets see which 20 trucks even get the job done, much less done the quickest, safest, and properly.
Lets mix it up some, so my drivers don't just get to specialize. The loads will be heavy equipment moves, logs, lumber, gravel, fuel, hay, transformers, and mine ore.

 

I've seen videos of your great drivers. Sorry bother not buying your 80%