Self driving trucks

I think it's going to take a bit longer than people think.

Automakers Are Rethinking the Timetable for Fully Autonomous Cars

 

Consider this.

Taxing the robots like a Human based on productivity then providing all displaced drivers a basic cash handout each month. Regardless of working or not.

College is not the goal oriented situation it used to be. If i wanted to focus on just computers and internet, communications etc. That is all well and good. I don't require algebra or any other rounding out classes that is a credit timesink and parasite on the core needs of the computer side I was working on at the time. Ultimately I left the school and paid off the debt. My spouse had graduated with a 4 year, is worthless paper. We spun 46000 dollars via federal loans and 5 years wasting into the college that definitely profited off us. We paid off all that was due so we are free.

No more college for us. If anything is pressing we just ask google. The answers we get back so far as been adequate to the problem.

The robot trucks are rolling, quietly and in small numbers along roughly I-10 west of Texas. It wont be too long before it's rolling in other parts of the USA. Just stay out of the way when winter shows up or the tornado season we are in now throws the big rigs down.

 

Yawn ... reality is going to bite some in the butt.

Driverless trucks will be reality soon, no one will lose their jobs ...

Why?

Because you guys do NOT see the bigger future picture.

With the amount of turnover in this industry with large fleets, by the time driverless trucks hit the road, attrition will have forced a large enough gap to allow driverless trucks to gain numbers, the megas and those fleets who will use driverless trucks will just stop mass hiring.

I've already seen three driverless trucks, up close and personal ... it still needs a monitor involved so there has to be a driver. I expect that there will be more on the road by next year, just like there is more point to point driverless cars on the roads already.

 

Id like to see retrofit kits for auto pilot to be installed on current trucks. If. I could have a system that will operate the truck after Ive gotten hot and sweaty strapping/chaining a load in the heat, Id be all about it.

 

I have had two distinctly different businesses. One very successful and the other fairly successful but ridiculously stressful on me to the point i walked away.

Being an employee is ok, it pays the bills but i miss some aspects of ownership.

I have never blamed the government, my supply chain or customers for my success and failures in life.

I would like to blame failure on anybody else but myself.

The singular reason i am unable to, is that many other companies, my competition and peers, remained in business and made very good money and are still in business.

If rules and regulations didnt end their businesses and an entire sector... how can i blame the government?

Sometimes we make calculated risks that dont pan out. Sometimes we flat miscalculate or even mismanage... some particular aspect, even if its a seemingly small percentage of hour business and it can wind up being fatal.

That is business on the open market, fair competition. You can do it all right and still lose. Not because you did anything wrong, but rather, because your competition was simply lucky or better.

Thats life. And my unsolicited 50 cents.

 

The big picture is most truckers want to protect their own self interests by stiffling innovation and competition.

Yes, i know how that sounds... but i have only heard one guy so far (jokingly) speak the real answer... the only answer...

He said i wish they had retrofit kits (paraphrasing).

He is right. The country is not goint to buy into they should outlaw autonomous trucks to protect your job. Yeah... no more than you refused to allow telephones to advance...?

You know... in support of switchboard operators... who were all replaced by automation.

The answer is not to block cry or complain... but instead prepare... get ready to convert to ownership... you will need a down payment and financing in place to buy your small fleet of autonomous trucks... so you can stay home in the heat or ac and book loads and monitor your profit centers progress.

Yes i am being a ########... but seriously think it through... you arent driving a twin stick with no ac or power steering...

You will maybe still drive for the rest of your life... but eventually the technology will win like engines on sail boats.

You can either embrace it and profit from it or get left behind...

 

@im6under i blame California because California state government shut me down. Like I said I was taxed to death.

 

And Tesla is light years ahead of most others developing this tech. So many of these companies developing trucks and cars make grand promises and predictions to keep the R&D money rolling in. I honestly don't believe we'll see fully autonomous vehicles as the norm for many, many years. Our infrastructure simply won't allow it to happen.

 

Agreed 100%

I enjoyed my time in college. Its helped me in a lot of ways. Did it while working. Taught me some discipline. Turned my math weakness into a strength.

But as far as finances goes, it didnt help me at all. I earned a lot more just learning how money works, interest, and having discipline to save and not spend.

If you really wanna pull in larger checks, you gotta know something not many people know, or you gotta be willing to do something not many are willing to do. Trucking falls into what most arent willing to do most likely.

Computers and programming, engineering used to be what most don't know, but not really anymore.

OP start driving, dont worry about it. If it happens and trucks drive themselves then you move on and learn a different skill. People do it all the time. Worry about it if/when it happens.