The driverless truck is coming, and it’s going to automate millions of jobs

Discussion in 'Truckers News' started by VTSharpshooter, Apr 26, 2016.

  1. VTSharpshooter

    VTSharpshooter Light Load Member

    104
    56
    Oct 29, 2010
    Vermont
    0
    The driverless truck is coming, and it’s going to automate millions of jobs
    [​IMG]
    A convoy of self-driving trucks recently drove across Europe and arrived at the Port of Rotterdam. No technology will automate away more jobs — or drive more economic efficiency — than the driverless truck.

    Shipping a full truckload from L.A. to New York costs around $4,500 today, with labor representing 75 percent of that cost. But those labor savings aren’t the only gains to be had from the adoption of driverless trucks.

    Where drivers are restricted by law from driving more than 11 hours per day without taking an 8-hour break, a driverless truck can drive nearly 24 hours per day. That means the technology would effectively double the output of the U.S. transportation network at 25 percent of the cost.

    And the savings become even more significant when you account for fuel efficiency gains. The optimal cruising speed from a fuel efficiency standpoint is around 45 miles per hour, whereas truckers who are paid by the mile drive much faster. Further fuel efficiencies will be had as the self-driving fleets adopt platooning technologies, like those from Peloton Technology, allowing trucks to draft behind one another in highway trains.

    Trucking represents a considerable portion of the cost of all the goods we buy, so consumers everywhere will experience this change as lower prices and higher standards of living.

    While the efficiency gains are too real to pass up, the technology will have tremendous adverse effects as well.
    In addition, once the technology is mature enough to be rolled out commercially, we will also enjoy considerable safety benefits. This year alone more people will be killed in traffic accidents involving trucks than in all domestic airline crashes in the last 45 years combined. At the same time, more truck drivers were killed on the job, 835, than workers in any other occupation in the U.S.

    Even putting aside the direct safety risks, truck driving is a grueling job that young people don’t really want to do. The average age of a commercial driver is 55 (and rising every year), with projected driver shortages that will create yet more incentive to adopt driverless technology in the years to come.

    While the efficiency gains are real — too real to pass up — the technology will have tremendous adverse effects as well. There are currently more than 1.6 million Americans working as truck drivers, making it the most common job in 29 states.

    The loss of jobs representing 1 percent of the U.S. workforce will be a devastating blow to the economy. And the adverse consequences won’t end there. Gas stations, highway diners, rest stops, motels and other businesses catering to drivers will struggle to survive without them.

    The demonstration in Europe shows that driverless trucking is right around the corner. The primary remaining barriers are regulatory. We still need to create on- and off-ramps so human drivers can bring trucks to the freeways where highway autopilot can take over. We may also need dedicated lanes as slow-moving driverlesstrucks could be a hazard for drivers. These are big projects that can only be done with the active support of government. However, regulators will be understandably reluctant to allow technology with the potential to eliminate so many jobs.

    Yet the benefits from adopting it will be so huge that we can’t simply outlaw it. A 400 percent price-performance improvement in ground transportation networks will represent an incredible boost to human well-being. Where would we be if we had banned mechanized agriculture on the grounds that most Americans worked in farming when tractors and harvesters were introduced in the early 20th century?

    We often discuss the displacement of jobs by artificial intelligence and robots in the abstract, as something that we’ll have to eventually tackle in the far distant future. But the recent successful demonstration of the self-driving truck shows that we can’t afford to put off the conversation on how we’re going to adapt to this new reality.
     
  2. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  3. VTSharpshooter

    VTSharpshooter Light Load Member

    104
    56
    Oct 29, 2010
    Vermont
    0
    Duplicate
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 27, 2016
  4. tommymonza

    tommymonza Road Train Member

    4,519
    12,847
    Sep 10, 2013
    S.W. Florida
    0
    And when the system gets hacked just like the Navy had happen to their Gps and than ended up Captives in Iranian waters , how will that work out.

    Hacking is the new threat in all the world that is going beyond a virus in your computer.
     
    peterd Thanks this.
  5. STexan

    STexan Road Train Member

    14,962
    29,148
    Oct 3, 2011
    Longview, TX
    0
  6. AModelCat

    AModelCat Road Train Member

    28,209
    148,141
    Jul 7, 2015
    Canuckistan
    0
    This topic has been beat to death here recently. That technology might eliminate some jobs but it will never fully replace drivers. There is just no way those trucks will be able to work effectively in niche areas like farming, logging, oilfield, highway maintenance, construction, over size etc. Plus now every truck stop will need dedicated staff to fuel/inspect the trucks as there is no way a driverless truck will know that something is failing (like a leaking pinion seal) or that the straps/chains holding the load are loose.
     
    Mudguppy Thanks this.
  7. Getsinyourblood

    Getsinyourblood Road Train Member

    1,256
    1,731
    Jul 5, 2014
    Retired. North Texas
    0
    Labor representing 75% of the cost ? That's over a dollar a mile wages to the company driver. Sign me up.
     
    Iron-Man, BostonTanker and Bean Jr. Thank this.
  8. Mudguppy

    Mudguppy Degenerate Immoralist

    1,657
    4,063
    Apr 28, 2014
    Wooley Swamp
    0
    Sooooooo, now we're going to use this topic as the new weekly "Swift or C.R. England" thread?

    Sweet.
     
    alghazi and truckthatpassesyouby Thank this.
  9. TripleSix

    TripleSix God of Roads

    18,088
    126,583
    Apr 10, 2009
    Copied in Hell
    0
    And in a world where all cars and trucks are automated, the only person that will be able to override all hackers by manually driving any vehicle will be called what?
     
    Mudguppy Thanks this.
  10. Mudguppy

    Mudguppy Degenerate Immoralist

    1,657
    4,063
    Apr 28, 2014
    Wooley Swamp
    0
    Uh, non-existent? LOL
     
  11. Mudguppy

    Mudguppy Degenerate Immoralist

    1,657
    4,063
    Apr 28, 2014
    Wooley Swamp
    0
    Why double post this crap? And how is this a question from a new driver?

    Smh.
     
  • Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.