Are OTR drivers are on the short list for elimination?

It feels like your whole point of this thread is to be a troll.


None of your points are well thought out.


As of now the only space a driverless truck would work in is line haul within a company.

An awful lot of DC’s have a wait for a dock. Who tells the truck where to wait?

A shipper or consignee will not have the ability to instruct the truck….how do you handle communication?

Who do you expect to pay for customer to truck communication? You surely can’t expect the customers to foot the bill, when every trucking company will undoubtably operate proprietary software.


Who is then responsible to open/close trailer doors? Slide tandems? Slide 5th wheels? Secure loads? The shipper/receiver does not work for your trucking company.


What happens in winter weather? The truck has to shut down for snow. Unless you are going to devise a plan to keep all the sensors and camera clean and operable in freezing weather with snow, ice, & salt.


Who signs the BOL? Who become liable for OS&D??


What happens at 3am when the truck has the wrong pick up number?


You made a fine point about the ports…..that is a small segment of the industry.

Old rail lines are torn out and turned into rail trails, with more frequency than new rail lines are laid.

We haven’t even touched pre and post trip inspections. Who inspects the truck for chaffed air lines, oil leaks, cracked welds, blown wheel seals, etc…?


Terminal to terminal, or plant to company ran DC ok you can make it work.

Sea Port to your yard. Ok

Rail yard to your yard. Ok

There are to many variables to overcome to make it work any other way.


Imagine an autonomous truck showing up to a construction site. Yikes

 

I see more regional routes coming, yes, from closer DC's for two major reasons:
1. Products can be delivered to end user much quicker. Last decade has seen the shift to, "I don't just want it; I want it NOW" mindset. Plus if a consumer gets the product in hand before the emotion fades, he/she is much more likely to keep the product and to keep buying from that entity whether it's a major box store or the manufacturer directly.
2. Regional routes mean that drivers can be home at least 2 days a week with many home almost every weekend.

On the other hand, I see a lot of OTR jobs sticking because there will always be those niche' products that need to get there ASAP such as pharmaceuticals (most products must be specially insured, in specialized trailers and with background checked drivers), cattle, oversized/specialized haul and rush ordered products. It is easier to find a truck to haul it once than coordinate multiple drivers (and probably carriers) to get a load to its final destination. And sometimes there are manufacturers who make the entire country's supply of a particular product. There is not enough demand to have DCs or plants across the US. Therefore, need OTR drivers to pick it up and deliver to its final destination.

I do believe there are OTR jobs that will always be around just by the nature of the product or the need to only hand it off once due to strict regulations, requiring specialized drivers or equipment for those loads.

 

Reading all the gobbledygook about this subject shows how out of touch everyone is.

If, just say if, there is a move to autonomous vehicles, it is not going to be all that quick and easy. This industry is a given, seeing that a lot of labor centric things can use robotics while driving the truck may not be in the near term, mainly because of the laws of each state and the standards set by the state for this technology.

bs, the customer isn’t in the picture, they can’t dictate rates.

 

The Bible describes news and events in every day- past, present, future.

 

Are you doing a research paper?

 

I thought there were some being tested in texas

 

One thing, they would be ev.

 

Following through to a logical conclusion. People can't get work, they can't buy things that are being shipped. Less demand. It either becomes riots and anarchy, or universal income. People can either pursue their "art", or play video games and get high all day.