Trucker's Will soon be a thing of the past

Umm yeah it can, or at least it will and sooner than you think.

Same here, it will be able to do this every bit as well as you if not better in very near future. Pretend it ain't so if you like but you'll be wrong.

 

JG you show me a computer that knows how to adapt to surroundings such as ice, snow, high winds, livestock, wild game, kids, etc, and I'll buy your line of BS. Trucking will always be dependent on the human element.

 

Always? No. Anytime soon? No. But they're working on it. This is from 4 years ago.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mebq9vQNrIw[/ame]

This is not a remote controlled truck. It is driving itself.

Here's another one on a far more challenging course.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R7d-bYSyUE[/ame]

 

As someone who delivers to the labs at Stanford, I can assure you this will not happen anytime soon. These cars are not operated on public highways, but on test tracks embedded with sensors. The reason they don't have accidents is because they are on a track. However, there have been accidents and malfunctions. One of the programs researchers was in the San Jose Mercury News a few years back when they started this and if I can remember correctly, even he didn't think the program would ever be supported by the public. But I do agree with the point that trucking companies would just love to see robotic drivers. Then, they could have the slaves they always REALLY wanted, without any pretenses...

 

As long as there are computer viruses, trojans, worms, etc., and hackers there will not be widespread use of computer guidance systems in cars and trucks. Any computer geek can give you the stats on how often computers glitch or completely crash. I'm thinking a little computer glitch at 70mph could be a significant problem.

 

The freight we haul will NEVER "go to rail" or automated trucks for the simple reason the freight requires 24 hour monitoring. You just can't do that via remote control or piggy-back on a railway car in a freight-yard.

 

Right. We can send a flying robot to kill something on the other side of the planet, or explore another planet entirely, but we'll never (never ever, EVER) build automated trucks.

 

I really like how so many computer geeks are sure that computers can do everything better than a human. Well, there is one thing a computer will never be able to do, and that is earn a living for their family. Once every one is replaced by a computer or a robot, maybe you geeks can tell us how to feed our families then. Unemployment is bad enough already. Just because something can be done by computer, does not mean it should be done by computer.

 

Do I even need to point out the irony of using a computer to complain about how terrible computers are? Oh, I just did.