Driverless trucks

3,500 lb car shouldn't be driving itself either.......

 

Yes, not only that, you need to understand you are facing other issues, one is you may not be able to drive a truck.

 

Call me a Luddite it I just don’t see it happening. So many things to wrong and when it does the public outcry will get them shutdown. Many people including a lot of politicians are strongly opposed to this already for a myriad of reasons. There are a ton of truck drivers in this country. It is one of the better paying jobs that a person without a higher education can do, The societal impact of putting these drivers out of work would be huge.

 

Of course it will happen...... some day. Let's say, realistically, it will take 25 years to replace half the jobs (I personally think it will be a little slower than that).

So, in 25 years, we lose half the commercial truck driving jobs. Contrast that with the annual % of drivers exiting this career --- 30%? 50%? So the annual number of jobs lost in 25 years will be something like 3% of the natural turn over rate in the industry.

Big whoop.

 

Fully driverless trucks will happen eventually for sure but I’d venture to guess in reality you could be telling your 18 year old grandchild to stay out of the industry because of auto trucks. Driver assist/auto pilot will be around this decade I bet but it still requires the human element. If you retired at 65 in 2067(ish) I doubt you will be unable to find work as a driver due to driverless trucks even in the end of your career. While I think there will be driverless trucks by then and they will be a pretty regular sight there’s just so many different types of trucking jobs.

IMO driverless trucks will eventually over run the long haul drivers and human operated coast to coast runs will be a thing of the past. But I can’t see them taking over for city drivers, LTL, Agricultural, delivery route drivers (Pepsi, Budweiser etc.), tankers or dump trailers. Lots of jobs there and by the time you’d have to worry about those getting taken over you probably won’t be worry about much of anything. Might be a concern for your grandchild but not you.

And even if it does happen not every carrier will be willing or able to make the switch. Just like when steam ships came out and sailing ships became obsolete, sail power still stuck around for almost a century in commercial service. Then when Diesel engines came about steam stuck around almost a century. This is no different, from the time it’s introduced it will take a century or more to make drivers obsolete and even then only in certain types of driving.

 

18 year old's can attend cdl school and then a driving job.
No need to wait.
You can drive within the state until you're 21, then after you're 21, drive interstate all over the USA.
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I've seen several ads for 18 yr. old cdl drivers and saw this one today.
Helena Agri-Enterprises
Helena | People...Products...Knowledge®

 

Don't worry about self-driving trucks; there will always be a need for truck drivers.
By the way, many drivers on this forum were once coders until the jobs were outsourced
to cheaper labor.
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Where is your location; state and nearest city/town.
Maybe some drivers on this forum from your area and can give you some job leads.

 

I can't wait to see these self driving vehicle manufacturers sued into oblivion when they inevitably cause a wreck.