Since autonomous trucks are gaining serious ground should I be looking for a new career?

Chief a train is on a track. Stop or go isn't rocket science.

Trucks have to deal with other people. Look at all the crashes that Tesla has had. it's a lot different animal than riding down a track.

 

Yeah a train is a more simple, but it isn't as simple to run a train so it isn't breaking in two as you think due to every single train being different in weight, length, power, hpt, etc. They quickly got all this working 10 years ago.

As for Tesla, there ARE NOT a lot of accidents. The few that I have seen the dash cam for would have happened regardless if was a human or computer driving. Anyone trying to dispute the safety of Tesla's auto driving system is being extremely naive. It only gets way better and EXTREMELY efficient once all vehicles become autonomous and can talk to each other. Again, 15-20 years you will probably be fine, but if you are telling your kids to become a truck driver when they get older, well that is extremely ignorant. And again, I heard all this before when working for the RR and both crew members can be kicked off the train once they find away around unions and the public warms up to the idea of automation which is inevitable.

 

Teslas may be smart, but its all the other dumb cars on the road that are the problem.

It needs to be all or none. Even one doddering fool wandering across lanes on a highway will be enough to throw everything into chaos when the smart safe computer cars realize they can't communicate with grandpa's Chrysler and come to a halt as a default.

 

Honestly. No matter how "smart" the autonomous truck becomes. I doubt your ever going to see them w/o a driver. Because things break down. Camera gives out at 70 mph your going to need to take over the wheel.

 

Technology can move very fast. I had robots unload my wagon and place all the 800 lb spools of paper on racks. Robots read the bar codes on spools to identify placement in warehouse. This was almost 30 years ago in Franklin Park Il.
There was a employee on dock as "observer" Robots don't stop for coffee or call in sick, and they work 7 days a week without whining.

 

Why dump money into platooning? Just join the 21st century and allow super b setups and ditch that sissy 80k lb weight limit on 5 axle setups lol.

 

While I may agree to some extent, not all drivers will be replaced. Mundane driving jobs, interstate exit to interstate exit, yes. Now is a computer gonna get out and throw cables on a 150000 gross load of wood in northern Ontario/BC? Nope. And know when to throw chains, triples, not sissy singles. Nope. And will it be able to get that said load outta the bush, where in the spring, there is no road?? Not a chance.

 

I have seen others post this as have I. I will post it one more time. Until we get the basic Infrastructure fixed a change over to fully automated vehicles is NOT going to happen. Then there is going to have to be some sort of system to transmit REAL-TIME to these "robots" about changes to the roads. How do you think an automated bot will handle a sinkhole that just happened? Human beings are always going to be moving around. I could open up several cans of worms with this reply, I am not going to. There are MAJOR obstacles to going fully automated. EVEN in places that are automated like loading docks, there MUST be humans to oversee the systems. We are not anywhere close to this happening. Maybe in a hundred or so years, but until some of these basic problems are solved a total change over is NOT going to happen. PERIOD!

 

I still don't understand the appeal of self-driving vehicles. If I wanted to sit back and be driven somewhere, I'd have a chauffeur on payroll.