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Will automation put an end to the American trucker?

theguardian.com

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Re: Will automation put an end to the American trucker?

#181

Post by toomuchtodo »

djrogers wrote: post #172
toomuchtodo wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but taxing gains in productivity is a perverse incentive. Not at all. The end goal should not be productivity onto itself. If those gains are being scooped up by a sliver of the population, we change the rules to benefit all. One person, one vote. As automation automates away more jobs, the cohort of people without jobs grows, forcing regulations (through democracy) to change to move towards a citizen's dividend fu…

That mindset only works without the reality of globalization.

Events like Brexit and Donald Trump are only the start. If economic conditions gets worse for the disadvantaged, it gets worse for everyone.

Clearly, democracy can override your usual globalization proponents (see: "Okay, The Trans Pacific Partnership Is Dead. What was it?" | https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/01/2...)

Re: Will automation put an end to the American trucker?

#182

Post by kamaal »

petra wrote: post #97
rezashirazian wrote: post #38

Everyone talks about truck drivers becoming obsolete once self driving cars take over the road. What I would worry about are endless number of doctors and surgeons that spent a life time mastering a skill and will just as easily be rendered obsolete by the same technology. Lawyers too.

Don't worry about doctors. Political power wins out in the end, and they have tons of it. For example: for decades they've managed to resist entry of decision-support systems(which were not perfect, but still, an improvement), even though their own error rate is ~1/8.

>>Political power wins out in the end

Well actually its economic power. These people just have to pray technology doesn't get cheaper with time.

I remember in the 90s an entire generation of Indian workforce lost jobs overnight, for decades they fought computers and software. They bought in regulations, laws and what not. Unions fought 'computers' tooth and nail. Yes, you read it right- they were against the very use of computers.

When the prime minister called for use of computers in India in the 1980s there was a national strike.

Eventually it became impossible to not use computers without slipping into an economic stone age. People had to give way.

Re: Will automation put an end to the American trucker?

#183

Post by blt »

alacombe wrote: post #106

Automation is one thing in fully mapped Mountain View with perfect weather. It's a whole other job when supply lines go through rough terrain, like Canadian western highways in winter... those chains won't get around those tires by themselves, not to mention the risk of mechanical failures.

Yes, but those surely make up a small proportion of all truck freight traffic.

Re: Will automation put an end to the American trucker?

#184

Post by foolfoolz »

kibwen wrote: post #178

> while truckers are prohibited from driving more than 11 hours per day without taking an eight-hour break, a driverless truck can drive for the entire day. This effectively doubles the output of the trucking network at a quarter of the cost. Interestingly, doubling the throughput of the trucking network would also halve the average lifetime of road surfaces. "The federal government has estimated that a 40-ton, 18-wh…

sounds like a great opportunity for the automated road repair industry

Re: Will automation put an end to the American trucker?

#185

Post by cprayingmantis »

Judgmentality wrote: post #160
cprayingmantis wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey are you all trying to sell your hardware and software or are you trying to create a whole shipping company? Who are your competitors? I've been trying to do some research on companies in this space but it's been a bit hard to find info on anyone except Otto. If you've got the time I'd like to ask you a few questions, my email is in my profile.

This is their competition, and they're much better funded (although funding doesn't necessarily equal success). http://embarktrucks.com/

Thanks! I really appreciate it!

Re: Will automation put an end to the American trucker?

#186

Post by SomeCallMeTim »

csours wrote: post #134
themaninthedark wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.getloaded.com/load-board-blog/post/Whats-the-Best... It looks like your wife's friend needs a better broker because all the companies we deal with charge us. Our shipper won't schedule a truck unless we know that the load is ready due to how steep the fees can be. When we shipped some equipment to a major trade show, they try to schedule it so that the truckers have a minimum wait but the show will also pa…

Just because you're getting charged, doesn't mean the trucker is getting paid.

Honestly, I would guess you've nailed it: The delivery company is collecting a fee because they are only paid for per delivery, so making a driver (and truck) wait doesn't otherwise make them money.

But there's no guarantee that the fees are passed on to the driver. Just in case, I'll pass a question back through my wife to see if some truckers are actually paid for waiting. They talk to each other; I bet they all know if anyone is paid to wait.

Re: Will automation put an end to the American trucker?

#187

Post by [deleted] »

dchuk wrote: post #158
malandrew wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the names of some of these companies in the trucking telematics space? Curious to know more about what they track.

(Not being a jerk) if you just Google "truck telematics" the front page (and ads) are basically the big players. There are many more who you'll never hear about too. They generally track the Tractor (truck) and Trailer, and also provide regulatory (hours of service) and Dispatch (sending jobs to drivers). They also do a million other things, but that's the gist.

[deleted]

Re: Will automation put an end to the American trucker?

#188

Post by malandrew »

ams6110 wrote: post #156
malandrew wrote: post #55

I haven't thought of this until now, but it's going to be interesting to see the impact of self driving trucks on human migration. Today many people feel trapped where they live because it's prohibitively expensive to move. Once self-driving trucks are common, the cost of moving across the country should plummet. Imagine being able to move everything in your apartment or home across the country for a few hundred doll…

If you're loading and moving yourself, a U-Haul or similar is not that expensive. I've done interstate moves and the truck rental was never more than a few hundred dollars.

True, but there is another cost there, opportunity cost. The week you take to drive cross country is a week that you aren't working and earning money. You're no longer paying the truck driver for his time, but you are now using your time. Overall, this self-move approach works for short moves of maybe 1-2 days time, but the moment a move will take more than a weekend, you're disrupting your earning opportunities.

With self-driving trucks, you will be able to move for a few hundred dollars and be able to focus on employment.

Re: Will automation put an end to the American trucker?

#189

Post by malandrew »

chii wrote: post #146
ryandrake wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were for me, by far. What other expenses are there?

The fact that you'd first have to secure employment at your destination city?

The only move I've coordinated cost quite a lot. It involved moving a 4 bedroom house from the South to New England and cost about $4-5k with labor and boxing and only unloading at the destination. The majority of the cost was the labor after everything was boxed and loaded.
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