Possible self driving trucks by 2020?

Just imagine the chaos when a Swift truck flies off the road with 10 lemmings in tow......

 

Prime, Wil-Trans, Jim Palmer are 3 seperate companies.
The man that owns Wil-Trans, also owns Jim Palmer.
Wil-Trans and Jim Palmer both have contracts to haul Prime freight, but I heard they may be ending that contract; don't know if that's true or not.
All 3 companies hire 21 year old drivers.
I like Jim Palmer best because they run coast to coast.
Wil-Trans runs eastern half of the USA.
Prime runs coast to coast, but pays $.05 cpm less per mile if you want to drive a full size truck. If you want the extra $.05 cpm, you must drive an Eco truck which has no storage space to speak of and you must remove the passenger seat if you want a refrigerator.

 

Also, it's gonna be a looooooooong time before open deck ever attempts autonomous, straps and chains get loose, cargo shifts way too often to not have a driver.

 

I see this technology implemented every day ..... 3 or 4 trucks with less than maybe 1 truck length between them, traveling at 70+ mph

 

Sadly thats prob just poor judgement

 

The trucks won't be truly self-driving (i.e. no operator) for at least another 50 years (at the very least). There is going to monster insurance hurdles these manufacturers are going to have to overcome (even if they are already greasing the government's pockets to fast-track them) before we see them out there.

Plus, the infrastructure at many shippers and receivers isn't modern enough to accommodate this kind of technology, and a human will have to take over in some instances.

That all said, when it comes to trucks, the "self-driving" technology will only ever be an expensive cruise control. They aren't looking to necessarily get rid of truck drivers, just make many sector's lives easier (i.e. LTL/regional freight or line-haul applications) by eliminating a lot of the stress that comes with driving in heavy traffic.

Personally, I like driving, on an open Wyoming highway or a busy Chicago freeway during rush hour. As long as I'm driving the truck, I'm happy. Once the technology takes that away from me, I won't be happy anymore. Fortunately though, I'll be long-retired before self-driving technology becomes common enough to make inroads in the flat deck industry. Even then, they'll still need a human being to strap and tarp the load.

Diesel technology will be ancient history by the time self-driving trucks become a thing.

 

The media talk about things they know nothing about. Journalism School graduates have zero experience with anything except proper placement of commas, and they still screw that up. The media talk about this subject incessantly because they have zero practical experience and it seems so high-tech and magical. Have you seen the million of flying cars we are flying to/from work in? Have you seen the rising sea-level that turns Asheville, NC into prime ocean front property? Have you noticed all of the Amtrak and freight railway engineers put out of work due to automated trains?

You aren't really valuable to the trucking industry until you are 23, someone will hire you at 21 but not many and not for good jobs. There will be some automated trucks somewhere in the country before you retire, just like there are automated monorails in maybe 6 locations in the USA. NOBODY, especially journalists and engineers can accurately predict the future. EVERYONE has a guess about the future. After the future happens you can go back and see who predicted what happened. That person will be divorced, have had a traffic accident, and will have health problems in the futre. In short they were accidentally right about one guess and missed many more important things that happened to them before they happened. This fact is why there are touts at horse race tracks and millions of "stock market advisors". After the fact someone was right and he won't be right again.

Drive or don't drive nobody can predict or guarantee you a 40 year career in any business. Ignore the media they are idiots talking to other idiots and they always will be.

 

I might be an old fuddy dutty but I don't see automatons on our nations highways. Maybe something automatic on dedicated rails going from major city to major city then local delivers, something like todays crossdocks. Its hard enough as it is now just putting up with the ignorance. Can you imagine kids messing with them? Nope, don't see it.

 

Self-Driving Cars Aren’t Good at Detecting Cyclists. The Latest Proposed Fix Is a Cop-Out.

They can't even see bicycles right now. In 1950 they said we would have flying cars by now. I don't think it will happen for 100 years at the earliest. Govt. regulation may also be a big hurdle, depending on who is in office. Most people have 2 or 3 different careers now. If you want to do it go ahead, and see what happens that's all you can do with any job or career