Self Driving Trucks ARE HERE... Licensed in Nevada.

No. Just. No. I'm not being narrow-minded, I swear. But I've tinkered with, fixed and broken enough tech on my own to realize all 3 things can happen. And I do not want to ever entrust my life, much less the lives of others, to a computer.

Personal feelings aside. It's one hell of a step and I have to say I'm impressed. I'd love to look at and play with the hardware and software to get a feeling for how the program and its devices "think." That doesn't mean read an article. That means I'm getting my toolbox, laptop, and whatever else I need to learn about it.

I still think it's funny...I can't tell if they are trying to eliminate the driver or make the job safer/easier. But you mentioned the airline industry... Two things I'd like to have noted. One, there's far less traffic and you're not likely to get cut off. Two, coming from someone who is greatly interested in learning to fly for a living, pilots aren't anywhere near as equipped anymore to handle situations that the computer can't handle. Sure, it's safer but when an emergency does happen or something breaks, far too many pilots have no idea what to do.

 

What was it like 15 yrs ago? That one state was doing this with cars and supposedly they would all be driving themselves right now. This will fade away after everyone loses interest. I think the trucking industry and states have bigger fish to fry. Purely publicity.

 

It's the gambling state - rolling a big one this time.

 

Actually, this is the wave of the future. They have been using these in Europe quite successfully. It may take 20 years or so, but the driving profession is going to give way to automation just like about every other field is doing. This automation craze is going to idle a whole lot of employees, what I am wondering, is how much demand their will be for services when the humans are not working to buy those goods and services anymore.

 

Just wait until one of those self-driving rigs ends up in an accident and kills someone. That will be the end of this experiment.

 

It's going to happen eventually. You can resist and hate it, but we have been using technology to simplify work since the dawn of time. It will suck for a while for those who are in this industry, but it's going to happen. I'm not saying it will be quick or easy, but it's going to happen on some level. It's how man has operated, since for ever.

Plus, 90% of us ##### and moan about this job constantly.

 

Yup, infrastructure will have to be upgraded before you'll ever change job titles from 'truck driver' to 'truck computer operator' or whatever.

I think the collision argument hold water, though. If anything, a self-driving truck will be in a collision as a result of human error somewhere.

You should pray that this comes faster. Why subject the next generations to this, lets be real, crappy life style? Some of us like it, but that doesn't mean it's great. I'm sure the people who were awesome with a pen and quill adapted after the printing press came along. Hell, the slaves on the plantation (a nice metaphor for company drivers) were probably elated when the cotton gin got popular.

 

Is the truck with no human driver an automatic or a manual? Lots of old time backward thinking truck drivers say an automatic truck won't work, so I guess they have a robot pressing the clutch and changing gears.