Self driving trucks and our future

Never in history has a computer been put on trial for errors that cause major hardships in our society. Leaving a human partially in control and interacting with an automated system, keeps the human accountable in a disaster. This makes it easy for society to still have a scapegoat to fall back on. We as people have an inherent need to be able to hold other people accountable when mistakes happen. This is why a driver will always be involved with self driving vehicles and ultimately responsible for what happens with them. The point is to reduce errors but not eliminate the possibility of them, then when the bottom drops out, blame the driver anyway.

 

It is all about money. When a disaster happens, whether or not a human is behind the wheel I think will become irrelevant if things become more automated. As long as there is a name on the side of the truck with money behind it, that is who will ultimately take the fall if the truck is at fault. Not to mention all the software and mechanical systems and even tires you can point fingers at.

Very few drivers are filthy rich, a handful are well off. Most new drivers come into this line of work on their last overdrawn dime. Sure write the driver some tickets, send him to jail. That will just end up costing society more money, and will never satisfy the deep pocket of lawyers or those seeking frivalous lawsuits. The ultimate financial blame goes to where the money is in the event of a crash, that is the way things are today already.

 

One manufacturer, BMW IIRC, has already stated they will accept all liability for any accident in which a driverless vehicle they produced was proven to be at fault. I suspect more manufacturers will do the same. Liability is a factor but its a problem that will be solved when the time comes. Liability certainly won't stop this technology from happening.

 

Excellent observations!

Did you know that somewhere around the year 1900 or just before that there was a meeting in London attended by urban planners from all over the world and that the topic of discussion was the urgent crisis that was facing growing cities at that time?

The problem: horse manure

It was estimated that if they didn't find a way to deal with all the horse manure that a city like London would soon be over 10' deep in the stuff. As cities grew so did the need for horses in order to bring in all the stuff that trucks currently bring. Infrastructure for horses was critical for ongoing growth and to maintain the needs of the human population. Carriage houses were everywhere. Tons of hay and oats were required to be brought into the city each day, and tons of horse manure had to find its way out of the city each day.

Within 20 years that problem had solved itself. The horse population peaked in 1915 as the advent of the "horseless carriage" brought down the transportation technology that had served civilization for millennia.

 

I bet everyone who has been replaced by a robot in a factory first said "well this job could never be done by machine"!
I know I worked in a auto plant once,we all saw the first robots come in and we found ways to make them 'die' kind of like the drivers who hate automated transmissions.(so and so company is going back to manuals,They just wait till the luddites retire or quit.)
But they kept improving and now there are more robots then workers,the black factory is not a matter of ability but willingness to make the final step on behalf of management .
I bet google could find a list of jobs/skills that no longer exist and it would take days to read.
In every case the workers resisted/sabatoged the new tech and every time they lost.
I wonder what the HOS are for a robot?

 

24/7/365...

 

Just wait...they will soon have more rights than a human worker

 

Exactly...what we view as complicated and stressful (pumping brakes on snow before ABS, countersteering to try and avert a jacknife, at what point to grab the next gear on a hill, etc) A computer can do all of this at the same time, perfectly. And if it can't now, rest assured it will d be designed and perfected soon.

As I said before, how many people 20 years ago could imagine cellphones doing what they do today?

40 years ago (the internet existed for military purposes) but how many back then envisioned what it would be today?

110 years ago, how many people could imagine the interstate highway system, the integrated circuit, or even WWII, wars that could be fought from the air instead of the ground?

Technology since the turn of the 20th century has increased exponentially. We basically went from the stone age to the space age in less than 70 years. The world keeps turning, and time marches on. I don't always like it either, but that is reality...You can either march with it or let it pass you by.

I guess my future plans are to milk as much money out of this industry while i can before wages crash and our jobs become obsolete...At least for now I have somewhat mentally prepared for it.

 

My experience with automation is that the easy stuff gets the 'treatment first',the most boring tedious tasks are done remotely/roboticly first.The last mile inner city driving will be human for a while yet.
Long distance way from home driving -the kind its most difficult to get drivers for-will be done by drones ,possibly because people don't want to .The home every night stuff will be around a bit longer ,but you will have to compete for your wages with machines that don't work for free exactly but have other advantages-never sick never later for work etc etc.

 

...And no HOS limitations.