OTR drivers are on the short list.

I appreciate the explanation and accept I may be missing the point.

 

The reason why people feel so threatened by this is because we're running out of places to turn. Automation is coming for pretty much everything. Now that's it's even coming after white collar jobs (the irony of these individuals who sold us out to AI being hung out to dry by the thing that they created is not lost on me) too, in the worst job market in recent history, with ballooning, unsustainable national and consumer debt, a brewing oil crisis, a probable asset bubble in the financial markets, the cost of living crunch in everything from housing to groceries, and a totally dysfunctional government who seems to shut down as a matter of course these days, whose numbers can no longer be trusted even a little bit.

I think the good times are over. Work and save while you can. Hard to say exactly how long we have left, but when you've got a ton of the world's top scientific talent working on the problem of having to pay anyone wages, the clock is ticking.

 

That’s an opportunity for money to be made.

You have 2 drivers pulling a box. One driver is pulling freight for the big grocery chain, the other pulls high value, high security loads. The general public sees truck drivers. The bottom end driver has to ask about detention pay and appointment time. The high end driver has a contact number, designated safe parking spot and a private restroom with showers waiting. Same job title, completely different experiences.

Autobots can easily take the bottom end of the business. The LTL sector is much more complex and valuable. The drivers are worlds more competent. The freight is much more valuable. Hackers will not be targeted grocery loads.

@tscottme I wasn’t knocking you, was just pointing out the narrative the bottom feeders will push to get the autobots agenda pushed through. It what they push to get the Meat in the Seat agenda pushed through, where public safety is compromised by a false need.

 

It is coming, and when it picks up speed. It will be faster than you think. All of the problems people mention are legit. Some will be solved before hand. Yet others only after and event, and in a court room. 3-5 years, it might be common to see on thr interstate. Millions of baby boomers have already started retiring. That alone will be a driving force used against us.
So I predict they will creep in slowly, then a little faster. Until one day you look around and realize they are now close to the long distance otr majority.

 

According to ChatGP:


Forecast timeline (most cited industry scenarios)

By 2030: early but meaningful disruption

Estimated jobs displaced: ~500,000 to 875,000

• Mainly long-haul interstate drivers
• Focus on predictable highway routes (hub-to-hub freight)
• Adoption still limited to:
  • Texas, Arizona, Southwest corridors
  • major interstate freight lanes

Roughly 15–25% of drivers