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

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

#21

Post by patrickg_zill »

thescriptkiddie wrote: post #10
patejam wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't be surprised if they start out with "last mile" drivers to deal with off-highway driving.

But the last mile is where driverless trucks are most useful. For long haul, you can just use trains.

Actually you can't, for a lot of goods. Reason is that the railroad won't give you the same guarantees and trackability a truck will.

Example: you have refrigerated items (let's say a shipment of fresh fruit) that has to be maintained at a constant temperature and you want it delivered to your customer on Thursday when you ship Sunday night.

Truck: not a problem, and you can easily get updates all the time from dispatch (or if there is a GPS unit on the truck, immediately).

Railroad: maybe they will get it there, maybe they won't.

If the railroad puts a refrigerator unit on your boxcar and it breaks down, too bad - they won't reimburse you. A trucking company will.

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

#22

Post by enraged_camel »

HorizonXP wrote: post #2

My father is a truck driver. He made his living driving vehicles and doing heavy lifting and menial work. Truck driving is just the latest evolution in his "career" and I'm ever grateful to him for battering his body in various ways to ensure I had every opportunity available to myself. We talk a lot about his job. It's not fun. He works long hours, a lot of it is mundane driving, and he sits idle a lot of the time.…

>>Trucks are way more complicated to drive.

An Australian friend of mine told me that the trucks that carry load from Australian mining fields are almost fully automated, and have been for a while now. So perhaps it's not that complicated?

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

#23

Post by mac01021 »

yock wrote: post #14
mac01021 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting... They may have humans do all the manoeuvring within the distribution hubs long after they've automated all of the street driving. Shifting and braking, though, seem to me like the kind of thing that automata should be good at. And I suppose that, once most of the cars on the road are autonomous, the streets will be much more truck-friendly.

Sort of reminds me of a Harbor Pilot[0]. A person who holds unique knowledge of how to operate a large vehicle in a particular piece of confined geography. 0: http://www.insidejobs.com/careers/harbor-pilot

Neat!

I doubt a "hub driver" will earn a 6-figure salary, but manoeuvring a semi truck two or three trailers is definitely a skilled job that many (most?) people are not capable of learning to do well.

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

#26

Post by fblp »

Driverless trucks have been operating in the mining industry in Australia for over four years. There are lots of long haul routes around the world that are almost entirely truck traffic where automation makes a lot of sense.

Video showing how the mining trucks operate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0RCSX95QmE (2012)

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

#27

Post by lemiant »

nxzero wrote: post #25

Are any startups working on the last mile of autonomous logistics?

There are a few:

- Dispatch [1]

- Starships [2]

- And at least one stealth mode company

[1] http://techcrunch.com/2016/04/06/self-driving-delivery-vehic...

[2] https://www.starship.xyz/concept/

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

#28

Post by tomlock »

thescriptkiddie wrote: post #10
patejam wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't be surprised if they start out with "last mile" drivers to deal with off-highway driving.

But the last mile is where driverless trucks are most useful. For long haul, you can just use trains.

In Australia this isn't the case - the infrastructure doesn't service a lot of the land area.

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

#29

Post by knieveltech »

_RPM wrote: post #24

I really don't think this will happen in my lifetime. Could the whole robot drives car really evolve to replace the current state? I'm not sure that can happen over night.

The technology already exists. We're there.

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

#30

Post by ctvo »

HorizonXP wrote: post #2

My father is a truck driver. He made his living driving vehicles and doing heavy lifting and menial work. Truck driving is just the latest evolution in his "career" and I'm ever grateful to him for battering his body in various ways to ensure I had every opportunity available to myself. We talk a lot about his job. It's not fun. He works long hours, a lot of it is mundane driving, and he sits idle a lot of the time.…

> Trucks are way more complicated to drive. Once they're up to cruising speed, they're easy. But it's everything leading up to that point which is hard. Dealing with gear changes, airbrakes, load shifting, other vehicles that will inevitably cut you off, and much more.

The mechanical aspects of controlling a large truck and accounting for the variables is probably the easiest part of the problem.

Things involving humans (vehicles cutting you off, pedestrians, etc.) are part of the general class of problems that I'm assuming all automated vehicles are working on and are much harder.

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