1. Northeasterner

    Northeasterner Medium Load Member

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    Well until they get there we can enjoy the rising incomes because remember if it takes 15 years to a replace all of us with the self-driving trucks and that's 15 years in which the labor pool constricts and Freight rates by the law of supply and demand have to rise.

    My boss literally told me that our goal is to make our money and get out because in 10 years my job and his job probably won't be there.

    Self-driving trucks will be all bought up by the megas and with economies of scale they will be able to compete many of the smaller trucking companies and o/o's.

    not a bad plan. But I do feel like I'm on a slowly sinking ship trying to loot the baggage compartment before the water gets over my head....
     
  2. Thane

    Thane Medium Load Member

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    Before the smaller outfits are gone, though, they will be come 'mandatory teaming' outfits so they can compete with the self-driving trucks. That should buy them a decade. A robot truck can go 24/7, so the solo jobs in driving will be no more. It'll all be team, save for short regional and local. But to be honest, I don't think the self-driving truck will come. It'll be cheaper to use the railroads than tear up highways to put in sensors, set up the control centers to handle robot trucks, buy the robots to install in trucks and then install them, and buy the ready-to-go robot trucks from the factory. I think this 'robot truck' thing is mostly a bunch of ######## intended to scare drivers into obedience.
     
  3. Northeasterner

    Northeasterner Medium Load Member

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    You ever seen Metropolis? It's an old movie with that kind of plot.
     
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  4. Bumper

    Bumper Road Train Member

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    Its not just the trucks....its all the infrastructure. I really dont think they plan on just driving up to a Walmart DC and stopping at the gate.
     
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  5. Antinomian

    Antinomian Road Train Member

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    It's not about scaring drivers. It's about wowing investors into sinking their money into the project. If you're getting a six or seven figure salary to develop some pie in the sky project what you want most is for the project to go on. Whether the project is ultimately successful or not is of less importance.
     
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  6. recruiting madness

    recruiting madness Bobtail Member

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    No worries, this is the way of the world with this industry now. We have actually lost a lot of very good drivers due to the current state of affairs in the industry. Once you put your time in, it will get better, and you can pick your own spots (where you would like to work)
     
  7. SteerTire

    SteerTire Road Train Member

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    I saw $20 million evaporate last year, along with my sons stock options in the company. Tech is really good at sucking in investors money. Hell, some are good at producing an actual product. Then they get shut down by bigger companies, with bigger investors.
     
  8. Northeasterner

    Northeasterner Medium Load Member

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    Or they get shut down by the government!

    As far as pie-in-the-sky projects, let me tell you about how to blockchain is going to change your life, and if you invest in my ####y ICO today at $1 per coin...
     
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  9. Antinomian

    Antinomian Road Train Member

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    I used to work for Compaq, then for several dotcoms after that. I had options, but I never banked on them, never accepted options in lieu of salary, and never bought any stock. As far as I was concerned my money was due on payday. I'm still that way.
     
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  10. Northeasterner

    Northeasterner Medium Load Member

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    Out of curiosity what are you investing in for retireman though? Unless you have a huge sum of money saved up inflation and old age is going to eat away your savings and even the best funded pension or retirement account uses stocks or bonds of some kind!