60 Minutes: Driverless Trucks Report

Airlines use autopilots because they do a better job of controlling big heavy aircraft under some conditions keeping passengers who might be afraid of flying happier. They also free up pilots to operate radios and monitor traffic, weather, etc, etc,. But they often fail under extreme conditions. It,s why they have to be constantly monitored. Failure when your nearest neighbor is a mile or two away is a little different then when he,s in the lane beside you on a highway. It,s why I don,t believe we will see self driving trucks used by trucking companies in our lifetimes.

 

I'm 48 and I feel pretty sure I'll see it in my lifetime, but it will be a while. Microsoft just started a five year pilot program with Halliburton to develop software/hardware to automate the drilling of an oil rig. I don't think it will be ready right after those five years but it will be closer. I figure another 5-10 years after that and they'll start trying to roll out that automation into the oilfield. Another five years for them to work out the kinks and I'll be retired baby.

 

I have been retired for 20 yr,s after driving more than 30. Most of my driving jobs were too complicated and varied to be handled by a computer. If you start seeing driverless trains and aircraft without pilots landing at civilian airports then trucks may be next . They have airliners that can take off and fly the route and land without a pilot. Trains would be even simpler given their dedicated roads but the US, government is not gonna allow it at this point. Maybe if some idiots gets elected to positions of power,it may happen someday. If they do they will probably regret it.

 

Does not fill me with confidence.
In fact, some of those times where the computer optically grabs the wrong line are downright terrifying.

As far as autopilots go, there have been more than a few chilling cases of pilot’s last moments fighting the computer for control of the aircraft. I believe there was an Airbus that had a frozen pitot tube at high altitude, which led to a data error. The autopilot kept trying to climb while the pilot was trying to put the nose down. The autopilot assumed the pilot was in error and it hit the Atlantic tail first.

Air France Flight 447 - Wikipedia

Here it is: Air France 447

 

Do you want me to find videos where Tesla stopped before crashing or waving to avoid crash while on autopilot?

 

We are there.

 

No truck drivers in 90% of the trucks going down the road. JMHO

 

Not until the regulations change at least pertaining to what we are discussing. We have always had a percentage of idiots in washington but we haven,t quite reached critical mass yet.

 

Meh, at this point I welcome the giant asteroid of doom.