Future of Trucking - Automation concern

• Tucker Carlson recently had a debate with Ben Shapiro against Automation & said he would ask the Gov't to step in & regulate technology companies from automating the entire trucking industry - he said 10 million jobs are at risk...I'm going to be entering trucking soon (after cdl school, been studying the cdl pamphlet for the cdl learnings permit) -

• What are your thoughts on this? I think automation is a threat & Tesla, amongst others are releasing driverless trucks & I'm sure a fleet owner wouldn't mind having a 24/7/365 operation without a break, but I think there will be hiccups & malfunctions from this new tech that could be very dangerous...I don't think the entire industry will be replaced but I'm sure many O/O, especially fleet owners or the big companies will consider the money machines to work without a break & produce more delivers weekly for them....
• What are your thoughts on this - is it something to be concerned with?

Side question regarding driverless big rigs - will the FDOT still make it mandatory for these automated trucks to take breaks & not work 24/7, for there not to be an overload on the engines? Will it be the same break human drivers face on a daily & weekly requirement? or will it be much less, since the driver doesn't need sleep but the engine may need a short break from time to time? Thanks

 

How long have trains been running on tracks? Well over 100 yrs, they still have a crew aboard.

Not gonna happen.
They cannot pass another vehicle on the road
They cannot exit the freeway
They cannot back into a dock
They cannot operate in bad weather
Did I miss anything?

 

You will be in the ground long before you see robots take over.tesla will never be profitable with cars and trucks no way

 

Not all trains have crews, they're already running some robots. Mostly yard switchers. Union might have something to do with that, but not sure.

As for the rest,
They don't need to pass. At 40 mph they'll beat you there every time. Don't need to stop.
They can exit. Only question is how fast you want to do it.
they'll figure out the backing sooner or later, or Yard jockey can back it with a joy stick. actually, that's the easiest part from an engineering point of view.
You can't operate in bad weather either. Moot point.

Robot trucks are coming, only question is when. Too much money involved not to. And it'll be sooner than you think. I'll make it to retirement, but I feel sorry for the young drivers.

 

I don't see this happening in my life time. Yes you might see a few here and there in the future but it wont be a complete takeover. Nothing is ever going to beat a butt in that seat.

 

The first time there's a small glitch in the software and somebody gets killed, that'll be the end of the company who owns the truck and whoever wrote the software, it'll make that 90 million dollar lawsuit against Werner look like diddly squat..

 

You bring up an interesting point when it comes to the train, but I believe we now have the tech that allows driverless vehicles to pass other vehicles and even exit the freeway. As for backing into docks, we may not need this yet. For bad weather, we can halt operation.

I really think we now have the tech to pull this off, but regulations and insurance will be tough to overcome. For example, we can have driverless vehicles take over long distance driving and convert everyone to regional/local drivers. Driverless vehicles should do fine going from Omaha, NE to Salt Lake City on I-80 during summer. And to make it even easier, we can pass laws to allow driverless vehicles to drive on the left lane.

 

That is why we have insurance requirements. Driverless vehicles already perform safer than people, and they are not even on the roads yet.

 

Robots rule!!

the more robots, the more money for owners.

Don't you guys get it, you priced yourselves out of work, expecting $1000 a week or more, the best robot expects only $50 a week and a charge every night.


OK SERIOUSLY, stop fretting about the crap you can't control because this ain't happening for a while.

Why?

Because as I drove by the Ann Arbor Autonomous vehicle test track, it reminder me about the fact that with all the testing, with all the millions of miles on these vehicles, they still have serious flaws and one is that they don't react to differences that only humans can pick out and process in milliseconds.

THE best they have right now is a system where a human is involved, and that is it. IT is another 5 years away from fixing the problems they have and another 4 to 10 to get it road worthy for a truck.

 

########, a bird knocks a radar pod or camera off the right side off the driverless truck, what does it do? Your insurance will only pay what you have played for, if the court decides your accident victim gets 3 million dollars and you're only insured for 2, the rest comes out of your pocket, and your driverless truck hits me I'm going for everything you have and ever will have, and the manufacturer, and the idiot(s)who wrote the software. There is too many variables for this #### to work, anybody who thinks otherwise needs to pull their head out of their ###.