Self Driving Trucks, where do you see them in 5 years?

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by nitetride379x, Oct 24, 2023.

  1. Arctic_fox

    Arctic_fox Experienced mx13 execrator

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    Yea.....you may see them take the jobs from the fools running nearly free for the piddly $0.90 a mile loads that are 100% drop and hook LtL style crap. But even that is years in the making and decades of red tape away. And even then....i says good luck dealing with some of the less "standard jobs" god forbid finding people who give a crap to do them remotely.

    Heres a few select examples. If LOVE to see a computer deal with this. And a computer deal with the overloads or loads freezeing into the bed. Or mud and dirt or remote roads without signal that arent even on google maps sat view or even just the gps.

    If you throw on the tanking economy and extreme shortage of parts thats been going on for YEARS and is only getting WORSE. Lul not happening.

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  3. Cdemars316

    Cdemars316 Medium Load Member

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    The only way self driving works is if everything on the road is, there might be a time in the future where you are not allowed on certain roads unless you have an autonomous vehicle, it's the only way it would work is if every vehicle could communicate with each other
     
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  4. flood

    flood Road Train Member

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    Every notice how the only places you see them (for the most part) are the SUN SHINE states..

    Wonder how they deal with snow covered roads where you can't see the lines, or ice covered overpasses..
     
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  5. buddyd157

    buddyd157 Road Train Member

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    if they end up like this self driving car...then NO....!!!

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  6. aussiejosh

    aussiejosh Road Train Member

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    Not in a normal highway environment, I have seen them in operation at coal mines, these were the large dump trucks CAT 793 , CAT 797 over 300 tonne pay load, traveling at speeds less than < 50 km per hour on special haul roads basically mine vehicles only. I used to haul fuel to these mines, and would watch the operation in full swing as they would bring the trucks in to fuel up. So no these autonomous trucks still need someone to manually fuel them up.
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2023
  7. m16ty

    m16ty Road Train Member

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    My view is that self driving freight trains aren’t commonplace, and they only have to start and stop. That freight sector will transition far before trucks do.
     
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  8. ZVar

    ZVar Road Train Member

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    For trains there are no, or very little, non-union conductors. That makes a huge difference on the viability of even attempting to make driverless trains.
     
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  9. Accidental Trucker

    Accidental Trucker Road Train Member

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    For trains, there's one driver (for the most part), for 100 cars. Labor is a much smaller fraction of the cost than it is in trucking. In trucking, driver labor and associated costs (hiring, firing, managing, wages, benefits, supervision, the cost of the APU, sleeper, AC, etc, etc, etc) is over 50%.

    In trucks, being driverless means a 50% reduction in direct costs, plus the potential reduction in accidents and savings through improvement in asset utilization, fuel economy, equipment wear and tear and similar factors.

    Even if technology only replaces 30% of drivers, that's well over $100 billion in direct costs savings per year alone. That's a pretty big prize, too big to ignore.
     
  10. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

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    Well with such professional drivers speeding through a construction zone, I think Robots RULE!!!
     
  11. m16ty

    m16ty Road Train Member

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    Can’t argue with that. I think they finally got rid of brakemen but they kept them around a good 50 years after they were no longer needed.

    I still don’t think we will see driverless trucks become commonplace for a very long time though.
     
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