Driverless Trucks on 60 Minutes

They will have to fence the dedicated lanes if they really think they can keep 4 wheelers or non automated trucks out of it lol.. After all if they have the policing manpower to do it , the roads would be safe now.

 

Teamsters started on the Oregon Trail. I think they'll adapt

 

is it really a good idea to even announce such things on a national tv show?

reason being, too many kooks and crack heads out there, that can now play chicken, target practice with these trucks.

all they have to look for is all the gadgetry mounted all over them. unless there will be some sort of federal laws making it a severe crime to do so. since they would be messing with interstate commerce.

but even then, it can still be "open season" on messing with them.

 

yes, but slamming on the brakes (the 4 wheeler) the big rig will never stop in time, to avoid a crash.

it may be "on alert" when it picks up vehicles in the rear view mirrors (or cameras), but that remains to be seen.

just like nowadays, morons are gonna test those trucks.

 

I posted this in a different topic a while ago:


Autonomous vehicles still need a driver to take over in case something goes wrong, but people can't even pay attention when they have complete control of vehicle so thinking they will be ready to take over when a vehicle drives itself is just plain stupid. Cars are one thing, but an out of control semi is basically a wrecking ball that weighs up to 80,000lb (most US semis) and can take out a building. Distracted driving will grow with the number of autonomous vehicles. Not to mention the lack of actually having to do anything will cause boredom and fatigue resulting in lack of ability to quickly respond.

A human driver can react to events better then a computer can. If something happens right in front of the truck, what will the computer do? Just lock the brakes possibly causing loss of control and a far more serious accident? A human can move to the shoulder or take an off ramp if available and stop safely.

What about weather, hills, and traffic? An computer wont know what wind speed is safe to travel in based on load weight and how would it know where to park if things started to get too bad? Same with dealing with gusts, a human can see trees, etc that block wind and prepare for changes in crosswind. Ice and hills pose similar issues. What about rain and road grim obscuring cameras and sensors? Will the truck stop every few miles to force the driver to clean the sensors? Driving on a wet salty road after a snowstorm can have you using a gallon of windshield washer fluid per an hour due to the constant salt spray obscuring your windshield.

How about following distance? What will an autonomous truck do in rush hour traffic in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, or any other major city, or on any highway when there is a traffic backup due to construction/accident? If it tries to keep a safe following distance then it will end up stopped and stuck in the middle of the highway because cars will pull into any gap big enough for them to fit.

Companies are in the business to make money. People have already demonstrated they can mess with autonomous vehicles by putting stickers on signs or painting lines on a street. What will happen when one of these trucks gets directed into oncoming traffic or worse a building or school yard? Lawsuits will fly, the public will become scared, citizens will refuse to give business to companys using automated trucks so clients will leave, the company's stock will drop. Could cause the company to go out of business if they couldn't recover. It would be a major risk for a company to start using them before they are literally flawless. Truck can't even use GPS to detect road speed limits as they are only as accurate when changes are reported and made and there are still many roads where a GPS doesn't know a speed limit for it.

Most companies wont be able to afford to replace their fleets with autonomous trucks, and no company could do it all at once. Current new trucks cost over $150k and with it being new technology, you can expect autonomous trucks to cost well over that. Even the megas wouldn't be able or willing to replace their fleet in under 20 years. Especially since it would mean loosing money on current equipment. Then if something goes wrong like in the previous paragraph, they are out the money from buying them.

Then you have other traffic to deal with and we all know how cars drive around semis.
There are only 2 ways autonomous vehicles could work effectively:
1. People started to use more commen sense and consideration. This is very unlikely, the population is basically just becoming dumber
2. Or if a vast majority of vehicles on the road were autonomous. But a vast majority of the population will probably never be able to afford them until they become as cheap as a current used car. In 2019, the average age of a car/suv/etc registered in the US was 12 years old, most people don't replace their vehicle if it still works and can't even afford to replace it with anything but another cheap old used vehicle.

 

Lol.

Who’s going to fuel the truck?
Who’s going to do a pretrip and postrip?
Who’s going to get the reefer going when it runs too low and gotta prime it or the starter is on its way and needs a quick whack?
Who’s going to redirect it when a road is closed due to construction and you gotta follow the detour?
Who’s responsible when it wrecks?
Who’s going to tell it to shutdown when the weather is bad and how is it going to park?
What happens when all the cameras can’t get a good image going due to road rain spray or ice buildup?
How is it going to navigate roads it’s never been to before or roads it doesn’t visit much?
How is it going to know it’s going to the right road? Our truck gps don’t even know the right roads sometimes.
What will it do if some cars go about simulating fake traffic to get open the back doors and steal cargo?

 

When they do happen. It's just going to be line-haul.

 

I Agree!