The Department of Transportation has issued a new policy update for autonomous vehicles entitled “Preparing for the Future of Transportation: Automated Vehicles 3.0.” As a clear indication of where the DOT thinks things are headed, the FMCSA “will no longer assume that the CMV driver is always a human or that a human is necessarily present onboard a commercial vehicle during its operation.”
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao unveiled the new guidance (dubbed AV 3.0) during a briefing on Thursday. For the most part, the new guidance keeps with the DOT’s hands-off policy when it comes to regulating autonomous vehicles. The government seems satisfied with taking a back seat and letting the technology develop as it will without much interference or regulation.
In her speech, Chao highlighted the need for automated technologies to increase safety and save lives. She noted that human error is a factor in 94% of roadway accidents, but admitted that the majority of Americans are still leery of riding in self-driving vehicles.
“While these technologies hold promise, they’ve not yet won public acceptance,” Chao said. “Without public acceptance, the full potential of these technologies will never be realized.”
And though AV 3.0 make a hands-off approach clear, the guidance does leave a space for regulation to be put in place in the future, saying that “FMCSA retains its authority to take enforcement action if an automated system inhibits safe operation.”
As for automation replacing truckers, Chao admitted that she is “extremely concerned about the impact of automated technology on the workforce.” But she says that the departments of Labor, Commerce, and Health and Human Services will be researching the impact of automation on the workforce. That information is supposed to “help workers prepare for the future.”
You can read the whole AV 3.0 guidance here.
Source: DOT, fleetowner, ttnews
Tyler McMahon says
When are they gonna realize this is not the Jetsons this is the real world but then again after meeting with some there in D.C. over the last year I see the stupidity
Robert Goodman says
Chao needs to wake up and smell the roses go spend some time in thelife of a trucker not just tell me how my job is or should be she has no idea self driving trucks bad idea she thinks there are problems now just wait till we have them to deal with
Jim says
Trump hasn’t gotten rid of her yet??
What the F is he doing??
Mine says
You do know who she’s married to, right?
Darreus Dorsey says
There are 2.3 million truck drivers in America just let that marinate smh
Big Booblyboo says
I keep hearing about a driver shortage.
Jack says
I feel that it will be a long long time before they get a fully autonomous vehicle for coast to coast travel. What the he#:; I always liked the Jetsons!!
Big Booblyboo says
Wait till one hits a low clearance cause the gps wasn’t updated. Oops.
Raymond Thompson says
Another politician that is not living in the real world. A self driving truck might sound like a good idea but remember Mother Nature earthquakes, sand storms, tornadoes, blizzards and yes ice. Oh and don’t forget about all of Mother Nature’s children. Bears, elk, moose deer
What will happen when a self driving truck encounters anyone of those. If a road is washed out and a huge pot hole. Then let’s say that we have a accident on the road and a individual is walking around and doesn’t see the truck that has no driver. Or if the vehicle that loses control and crosses the median or a person that is traveling the wrong direction. I have been trucking since 1977 and I have seen all of this. There’s always been ideas come and go. But this one is going to cost a lot of people their lives. And not the cost of relocating businesses from small streets and residential areas to a more convenient place.
Olivia Korringa says
I agree with you. She is just pushing some of her rich associate’s agenda. You need a human driver to make the decisions you pointed out.
Kevin Chevalier says
your GPS can get you there it just can’t get you on the dock, singing the BOL
can be done without human interaction also wireless conformation,
there are many situations that idiot trucks will not be able to resolve like
judgment even loaded with cameras and sensors others create unresolvable
problems, your friends in the insurance industry are pushing to eliminate
your job and their using your money to do it, government and carriers
like the idea of driverless vehicles there infallible don’t you know eliminating
claims and payouts keeping your money for more television commercials
these people are the enemy not the machines.
Rene says
I hate the idea of self driving trucks. but I don’t think it will affect us that much just make sure your kids keep up with technology.
Ddub says
Read between the lines….The automation industry is paying her or her cabinet big money to take a back seat…..Hell, they’re regulating other things in trucking they should’ve stayed out of, but is “choosing” to stay out of THIS ONE…. THERE’S NO HONESTY ON CAPITAL HILL….for there Love of money is still the ROOT of All Evil.
Captain Howdy says
So you think that money is the root of all evil?” “Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?
“When you accept money in payment for your effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others. It is not the moochers or the looters who give value to money. Not an ocean of tears not all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor–your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money, Is this what you consider evil?
“Have you ever looked for the root of production? Take a look at an electric generator and dare tell yourself that it was created by the muscular effort of unthinking brutes. Try to grow a seed of wheat without the knowledge left to you by men who had to discover it for the first time. Try to obtain your food by means of nothing but physical motions–and you’ll learn that man’s mind is the root of all the goods produced and of all the wealth that has ever existed on earth.
“But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made–before it can be looted or mooched–made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can’t consume more than he has produced.’
“To trade by means of money is the code of the men of good will. Money rests on the axiom that every man is the owner of his mind and his effort. Money allows no power to prescribe the value of your effort except the voluntary choice of the man who is willing to trade you his effort in return. Money permits you to obtain for your goods and your labor that which they are worth to the men who buy them, but no more. Money permits no deals except those to mutual benefit by the unforced judgment of the traders. Money demands of you the recognition that men must work for their own benefit, not for their own injury, for their gain, not their loss–the recognition that they are not beasts of burden, born to carry the weight of your misery–that you must offer them values, not wounds–that the common bond among men is not the exchange of suffering, but the exchange of goods. Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men’s stupidity, but your talent to their reason; it demands that you buy, not the shoddiest they offer, but the best that your money can find. And when men live by trade–with reason, not force, as their final arbiter–it is the best product that wins, the best performance, the man of best judgment and highest ability–and the degree of a man’s productiveness is the degree of his reward. This is the code of existence whose tool and symbol is money. Is this what you consider evil?
“But money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. It will give you the means for the satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires. Money is the scourge of the men who attempt to reverse the law of causality–the men who seek to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind.
“Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he’s evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he’s evaded the choice of what to seek. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent. The man who attempts to purchase the brains of his superiors to serve him, with his money replacing his judgment, ends up by becoming the victim of his inferiors. The men of intelligence desert him, but the cheats and the frauds come flocking to him, drawn by a law which he has not discovered: that no man may be smaller than his money. Is this the reason why you call it evil?
“Only the man who does not need it, is fit to inherit wealth–the man who would make his own fortune no matter where he started. If an heir is equal to his money, it serves him; if not, it destroys him. But you look on and you cry that money corrupted him. Did it? Or did he corrupt his money? Do not envy a worthless heir; his wealth is not yours and you would have done no better with it. Do not think that it should have been distributed among you; loading the world with fifty parasites instead of one, would not bring back the dead virtue which was the fortune. Money is a living power that dies without its root. Money will not serve the mind that cannot match it. Is this the reason why you call it evil?
“Money is your means of survival. The verdict you pronounce upon the source of your livelihood is the verdict you pronounce upon your life. If the source is corrupt, you have damned your own existence. Did you get your money by fraud? By pandering to men’s vices or men’s stupidity? By catering to fools, in the hope of getting more than your ability deserves? By lowering your standards? By doing work you despise for purchasers you scorn? If so, then your money will not give you a moment’s or a penny’s worth of joy. Then all the things you buy will become, not a tribute to you, but a reproach; not an achievement, but a reminder of shame. Then you’ll scream that money is evil. Evil, because it would not pinch-hit for your self-respect? Evil, because it would not let you enjoy your depravity? Is this the root of your hatred of money?
“Money will always remain an effect and refuse to replace you as the cause. Money is the product of virtue, but it will not give you virtue and it will not redeem your vices. Money will not give you the unearned, neither in matter nor in spirit. Is this the root of your hatred of money?
“Or did you say it’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil? To love a thing is to know and love its nature. To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men. It’s the person who would sell his soul for a nickel, who is loudest in proclaiming his hatred of money–and he has good reason to hate it. The lovers of money are willing to work for it. They know they are able to deserve it.
“Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.
“Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter. So long as men live together on earth and need means to deal with one another–their only substitute, if they abandon money, is the muzzle of a gun.
“But money demands of you the highest virtues, if you wish to make it or to keep it. Men who have no courage, pride or self-esteem, men who have no moral sense of their right to their money and are not willing to defend it as they defend their life, men who apologize for being rich–will not remain rich for long. They are the natural bait for the swarms of looters that stay under rocks for centuries, but come crawling out at the first smell of a man who begs to be forgiven for the guilt of owning wealth. They will hasten to relieve him of the guilt–and of his life, as he deserves.
“Then you will see the rise of the men of the double standard–the men who live by force, yet count on those who live by trade to create the value of their looted money–the men who are the hitchhikers of virtue. In a moral society, these are the criminals, and the statutes are written to protect you against them. But when a society establishes criminals-by-right and looters-by-law–men who use force to seize the wealth of disarmed victims–then money becomes its creators’ avenger. Such looters believe it safe to rob defenseless men, once they’ve passed a law to disarm them. But their loot becomes the magnet for other looters, who get it from them as they got it.
Then the race goes, not to the ablest at production, but to those most ruthless at brutality. When force is the standard, the murderer wins over the pickpocket. And then that society vanishes, in a spread of ruins and slaughter.
“Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion–when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that is does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot.
“Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked, ‘Account overdrawn.’
“When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, ‘Who is destroying the world? You are.
“You stand in the midst of the greatest achievements of the greatest productive civilization and you wonder why it’s crumbling around you, while you’re damning its life-blood–money. You look upon money as the savages did before you, and you wonder why the jungle is creeping back to the edge of your cities. Throughout men’s history, money was always seized by looters of one brand or another, whose names changed, but whose method remained the same: to seize wealth by force and to keep the producers bound, demeaned, defamed, deprived of honor. That phrase about the evil of money, which you mouth with such righteous recklessness, comes from a time when wealth was produced by the labor of slaves–slaves who repeated the motions once discovered by somebody’s mind and left unimproved for centuries. So long as production was ruled by force, and wealth was obtained by conquest, there was little to conquer, Yet through all the centuries of stagnation and starvation, men exalted the looters, as aristocrats of the sword, as aristocrats of birth, as aristocrats of the bureau, and despised the producers, as slaves, as traders, as shopkeepers–as industrialists.
“To the glory of mankind, there was, for the first and only time in history, a country of money–and I have no higher, more reverent tribute to pay to America, for this means: a country of reason, justice, freedom, production, achievement. For the first time, man’s mind and money were set free, and there were no fortunes-by-conquest, but only fortunes-by-work, and instead of swordsmen and slaves, there appeared the real maker of wealth, the greatest worker, the highest type of human being–the self-made man–the American industrialist.
“If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose–because it contains all the others–the fact that they were the people who created the phrase ‘to make money.’ No other language or nation had ever used these words before; men had always thought of wealth as a static quantity–to be seized, begged, inherited, shared, looted or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created. The words ‘to make money’ hold the essence of human morality.
“Yet these were the words for which Americans were denounced by the rotted cultures of the looters’ continents. Now the looters’ credo has brought you to regard your proudest achievements as a hallmark of shame, your prosperity as guilt, your greatest men, the industrialists, as blackguards, and your magnificent factories as the product and property of muscular labor, the labor of whip-driven slaves, like the pyramids of Egypt. The rotter who simpers that he sees no difference between the power of the dollar and the power of the whip, ought to learn the difference on his own hide– as, I think, he will.
“Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips and guns–or dollars. Take your choice–there is no other–and your time is running out.”
Midnight Rider says
I experienced that assumption from folks back in the 80s long before we spoke about autonomous trucks. Mostly from shippers and receivers at grocery store warehouses.
Buck says
Dumb drivers equal robot trucks. Smarten up you so called super truckers and we’ll all be better off
Justnobody says
Can you imagine all these self driving vehicles on the road and some kind of power failure happen the fatalities because we all know to well computers never fail. Right?
Big Booblyboo says
Just wait till some hackers get a grip on the computers. Terrorist hackers won’t need suicide bombers anymore,they’ll just steal some trucks.
Douglas Kirk says
There has never been a presumption of humanity when it comes to the way drivers are treated. Why should things be any different now?
les_gvt says
In another ruling by the NTSB this week they also are going to start requiring “automated” vehicles have steering wheels and acceleration/brake pedals – something Obama did not require. These decisions are announced by someone that changes every 2,3,4 years- but the people that really make them are bureaucrats that get in a spot and stay there for 30 years, and normally the only info the politically appointed leadership ever sees is what the no name bureaucrats want them to see
Olivia Korringa says
Can you clarify the issue of requiring brake and acceleration pedals?
Also, you are entirely right about the hidden people making the decisions.
Rene says
there will always be a CDL holder on board of these self driving trucks for city and anything the truck cant do. the the truck will drive its self on long highway trips example from California to Georgia but the driver will be needed for city driving, bad traffic conditions weather and so on. So the truck will always drive itself in perfect conditions but I’m sure that a CDL holder will have to be paying attention for when human control had to take over. good idea but for future generations trucking won’t be an option for work as technology advances.
Steve P says
Ha.ha.ha they can’t even get automated toilets to work all of the time.
Now they expect automated cars and trucks to perform without error?
Tyrone says
The elec. Log device was a major step towards driverless trucks. These idiots are never gonna stop trying to impose their ideas on us,we need to figure out how to remove them from their posts,they don’t care about us or our families just using trucking to forward their goals.Listen to that about the DOT, ARE they even concerned about their jobs,wth?
Claude says
Have they ever?
Jim Getten says
I seriously doubt they ever considered CMV drivers as human. I’ve been doing it for over 42 years and I’ve always been treated like a machine.
Jude says
Well said, sir.
Mary says
I’ve been trucking since 1976. U r right on what u are saying and I agree with u 100%!
J W Bukowski says
There must be some serious rules In acted: restricted to interstate highway only, no has-mat loads. And a override shutdown available to all DOT officers and company safety personal.
And just for the starter. Talked to my senator while in DC; will call him again after reading this article.
Jude says
Let’s replace a few politicians’ chauffeured limos with automated drivers and see how comfortable they are in the back seat with a computer driving.
Eddie says
Mfg’s can’t get ABS or even an automatic transmission to work right. And, this nut thinks trucks are going to self-drive sometime soon?!?!?!
OK…That’s it. The next time I get pulled over, I’m gonna tell the cop that the driver was not human. I was simply along for the ride.
Gentry Newsom says
They are going to make it so regulated that all the brood stock ( oldpros) quit and leave them with a bunch of pinheads
that have no real exp. anymore fines or crap from the ckn coup & we quit..we have stayed in on the count of more pay & trucker shortage we all are doing federal work to keep the economy of the world prosperous they better wake up! Get some real people in our goverment not inexperienced paper pusher/bean counters, who hate people that can do what they wish that they could do, a meaningful job that actually needs to be done. Not job that is created for nothing good.
Ron says
At least the DOT will be out of jobs as well.
Angel Gray says
Wiltrans logistics is the dam same way as prime i went to wiltrans under what i was told but when i got there i was treated like dirt truck paynent was so high as a lease operator home time was impossible!!!!!!! There’s a maintance st up contracts expense and we cant even use it for c what we need anbd on top of that if you quit they hold everything for 45 days
Goinpostal says
They don’t treat us like humans now,so what the hell is the difference?
Pete says
They know this WILL NOT happen on a large scale . They are just trying to scare drivers because we hold more power than even the president of the United States. Fact is SHIPPERS AND RECIEVERS alike on a large scale will not be willing to take responsibility for their incompetence that we as drivers compensate for . Second because the technology relies on GPS it is very limited to where it can work full time .
What this is really about is they are spreading a false narrative because if even 50000 drivers unite and refuse to move their trucks it can stall the economy . Fact is if just 5 to 10 thousand fuel tankers refused to move it would ripple around the globe if it happen during the week of black Friday. If 100000 drivers all took four days leading up to the week before black Friday off WALL STREET would crash and the world economy would stall for weeks if not months .
Problem is the people in government realize THEY TAUGHT US how to uprise without firing a single shot and have taught us the power of uniting . Now they realize the fake race war will not ignite as they wanted ( i am not saying racism is non existing ) and that we as a population are not as dumb as they hoped .
Now as they push truckers to the breaking point someone has pointed out that people like myself are the true majority and we are ready to pounce and being that the majority of truckers are also like me poses the greatest threat because we … THE TRUCKERS and not wall street , bankers , or even the government, are the true controllers of not just the American Economy but essentially the Global economy. This is why they WISH that autominis trucks can exist but they realize it will never happen large scale , so they want to scare us and keep us divided in little boxes . Unfortunately for them Americans do not Comply easily . We are not SUBJECTS of a royal kingdom therefore we do not take commands to be OBIEDIANT . Sure we believe in the rule of law but being law abiding is not the same as being OBIEDIANT . Complying is not the same as SUBJECTIFYING .
We the Truckers are the real power brokers and the last thing the government wants is us United and simply refusing to move . But that is all it takes …. for us to simply refuse to move because at the end of the day only 2 things in your life do not involve a truck . That’s the birth of your children and the air you breath . EVERY SINGLE OTHER THING IN YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN TOUCHED BOTH DIRECTLY AND INDIRECTLY BY A TRUCK. So , WHO REALLY HOLDS THE POWER HERE ?
RenoBlues says
I’m all for shutting down and I can assure you that I can get 10% of the drivers at my terminal to do the same. Where do we sign up?
Getting burnt out says
Very well said. Now if everyone would just stick together.
Shogun says
Furthermore, Chad went on to say “I don’t know the first thing about trucking. I have never driven a truck. I am Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell’s Wife, which is how I got my job.” This concludes the presentation, I need to excuse myself to cash these checks from the ATA and tech companies.
Shogun says
Chao, not Chad. Thanks autocorrect.
Stratton says
Haha, good’s tough.
Rene says
major companies would love for this this to happen they are trying to do their part by creating an even greater driver shortage through hair follicle drug testing. They justify it as safety when they dont even train new drivers long enough to be safe. these companies are pushing for hair test to be FMCSA approved just like urine tests. it’s not a bad thing but it will create a greater driver shortage nationwide. eventually our government will see itself funding into this program so the major companies can stay getting bigger.
and weed the little guys out.
human drivers will still be needed.
for quite a long time I assume.
but the big companies want to keep it all. it will happen’ and as technologies advance human interaction will no longer be needed for future generations.
Purree says
Not one company has expressed a trade of interest in these trucks. Why should they pay a fortune for a truck that has no benefit to them? The truck cost would be astronomical. Secondly, a driver is still required on board to dock and to maneuver city streets. What does this translate into? Luxury for the driver onboard and zero benefit for the company. Why should a company pay a fortune so you can nap and play on Facebook while the truck driver itself?????????
Super trucker says
This is amazing if I get pulled over for speeding I’ll just point at the phone and tell them it was the computer not me. Give the ticket to verizon
Chuck says
Why do they keep acting like the American public is going to accept letting unmanned trucks run up and down out highways. These computers can’t out think people. They are a dangerous idea our families are not their guinea pigs
Chuck says
Why do they keep acting like the American public is going to accept letting unmanned trucks run up and down our highways. These computers can’t out think people. They are a dangerous idea our families are not their guinea pigs
Cac says
Who will slide the tandem? Who will do the pre trips? Who will change the light bulbs? Who will put on chains?
George Jetson says
The truck. A mechanic. A mechanic. The truck.
Purree says
How will the truck know when to slide the tandem? How will the truck do a drop and hook? How will the truck dock?
Purree says
How can a mechanic be there at every pretrip?
Purree says
Dumb. 3 states already outlawed them. No community is going to allow shyt like this to drive thru. They can’t even make a functional GPS let alone operate trucks on this system. I could just imagine a truck making a turn to drive down residential side streets as a shortcut that the GPS ordered and smashing out a bunch of parked cars. Or turning down an abandoned road that has a house sitting in the middle of the former roadway. No truck company has expressed one iota of interest in so called driverless trucks. China tried one out and it crushed a toll booth. Let’s not forget the driverless Uber car that ran over a pedestrian and killed her here in the USA.