How will autonomous trucks affect driver (pilot) pay?

Nobody really wants to talk about this right now. It's like discussing and becoming obsessed with death from old age when you are 20. Discussing it wastes time, it is what it is. Enjoy life day to day instead.

 

While I agree that we should live in the present and "smell the roses", I can tell you for 100% certainty that people who work in product research and development would disagree with the first sentence.

I won't take the time to list them, however a quick search I came up with this website that lists a few products that were discovered by accident during the R&D of another product. I also expect this to continue to happen. To this end, I am reminded of a speech JFK made in 1962. I did a paper on this speech back in high school!

 

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple with Steve Jobs and who built the first personal computer in his garage doesn't think that fully autonomous cars and trucks will happen in his lifetime. This is a reality check for those who believe that this technology will put us all out of work sometime in the near future. There are just some hurdles that technology can't overcome, and driving a vehicle like humans do on public streets and highways is one of them.

The Woz Predicts No Fully Autonomous Vehicles "In My Lifetime"

According to one recent study, automakers will spend well over $100 billion to develop self-driving vehicles by the middle of the next decade, but one of the country’s most celebrated tech gurus thinks that could be money thrown down a rathole.

During an on-stage appearance and a subsequent interview, Wozniak expressed his most serious skepticism about self-driving vehicles, a technology he had been eagerly anticipating during much of the past decade. The reality, said Woz, is that there are simply too many things for those vehicles to learn how to do, whether navigating the chaos on a city street or dodging an obstacle dropped onto a highway.

So, while smart cars may can take control under some circumstances, “You’re going to need at least the dumbest human (behind the wheel and ready) to take control when an unusual situation comes up.”

 

Getting rid of the driver Is the ultimate goal. No driver to pay, no health insurance, no workmans comp to pay and fewer people in the office to pay or provide benefits for . People keep saying it's not happening. Those people are wrong . We don't know when... but it is coming. In the short term, the driver who is required to ride along just became a lumper . They aren't going pay you to just sit and ride. And it's a guarantee the pay will be lower .

 

Absolutely! I don't see fully autonomous vehicles on the road maybe ever. Money is being used though in R&D. Just as some of the lightweight but strong polymers we have today. These products came out of the Apollo program. I am actually excited about what the next advancment will be in this field. I'm also almost 62 I doubt I will live to see most of it.

 

No, it is worth discussing. Death is inevitable, old age is inevitable. Planning for old age and death is wise, especially if you have dependents. If you don't plan for retirement, you'll regret it later. And the earlier you start on it, the better, so your savings can grow.

Autonomous vehicles are not inevitable. And it's relevant to someone considering a future in trucking. If he thinks the future is bleak, with less need for drivers behind the wheel in maybe 10-15 years, he might choose a different career path.

Looking ahead and planning for the future is wise.

 

I grew up in a small North Georgia town that at one time in its history was a watering and rest stop on one of the main lines of the now Norfolk Southern Railroad. Even the Southern Cresent Amtrak train runs through there once a day in each direction. I have always been a bit of what is called a railfan and I have a lot of old videos of trains. I used to love to take my thermos of hot coffee on some mornings and watch the trains go by, sometimes for hours. I bring this boring story up because I have also seen stuff that still to this day brings tears to my eyes. I have seen miles and miles of intermodal railroad cars with thousands of trailers being moved from one place to another. I remember watching 3 trains loaded with intermodal cars go by one after the other. I can't help but wonder if this or something like it is where general OTR freight is headed? See this is what may happen. Automated locomotives pulling specially made trailers down rails. This will take more trucks off the road. Getting back to that train business. I have not heard from a credible source on this. I am of the understanding that moving freight intermodal is MUCH cheaper than hiring it moved via a road. This is what I think is the future of trucking. Make no mistakes about it either. Whoever makes the cheapest safest mode of travel will win this! Just a note, we have the high tech today to pull this one off!

 

Nobody knows, but everbody has a very strong opinion. There is no authority deciding what jobs will pay. Each employee decides if that job with those conditions is worth that pay. There is a lot of money to make until that day arrives.

50 years of automating airliners has reduced number of pilots in airliners from 3 to 2. Automating airliner operations is a FAR SIMPLER problem than getting road vehicles to pass within inches of each other at closing speeds above 100 MPH.

 

and Insurance companies can’t wait.

 

Agreed! they were also able to do this because these new aircraft designs have been automated so much there is no further need for that flight engineer position. I am ignorant of all the planes. I still think some operators use that 2nd officer in the 747. The man that taught me how to fly was a flight engineer on the C5 and retired from the Air Force. He and I have talked about this many times.