I assume these self-driving trucks still have a human driver in them. So, which exact parts are self-driving? Is it like Tesla's autopilot where it does lane following, cruise control and keeping the distance on highways?
Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers
31–40 of 278 posts
Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why do you think our rail infrastructure is pathetic? It's the largest freight rail networks in the world. It sucks for passengers but that's not relevant to this discussion.
You're right -- it's better than I thought, though it's still in the middle of the pack when measured by track per person or track per area: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_tran... I guess I'm biased by seeing all the abandoned rail, since it's well down from its peak.
> it's still in the middle of the pack when measured by track per person or track per area
Both of those seem like somewhat irrelevant metrics. Why should a more densely populated country be penalized for having larger clusters of people compared to (based on this data) Canada or Russia? On the other end, why should a country with large swaths of unpopulated land cover it with rail to improve its track per area metric, which densely populated countries seem to do well on?
It may be more useful to consider the efficiency and cost of freight rail, as well as the share of freight transit (per unit of distance, for instance) that is on rail.
Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers
#33For those concerned with jobs to be eliminated, it might not be as big a problem as we think for the trucking industry. "Over the next 10 years, he said, we need to attract almost 900,000 new people to the industry. Demographics is a big part of the problem. ATA’s research arm, the American Transportation Research Institute, recently updated its demographic data on drivers and found some 57% of drivers are 45 or olde…
Generally, the idea of stifling innovation to "preserve jobs" is harmful to society. Upon choosing a career, you should consider the longevity of that career. Some people will still pick wrong for a multitude of reasons. Hopefully, those people can pivot. It is unreasonable to hold the entire population back to continue employing those in a specific field. If we consistently did that, we'd be in the stone age and our quality of life would be far poorer. This will help future generations drastically even if it hurts us a bit.
Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers
#34I assume these self-driving trucks still have a human driver in them. So, which exact parts are self-driving? Is it like Tesla's autopilot where it does lane following, cruise control and keeping the distance on highways?
> So, which exact parts are self-driving?
Just enough of it that they can skirt the DOT hour rules about hours worked while still blaming the driver for any crashes or tickets would be my guess.
That's the obvious lowest hanging fruit as far as trucking is concerned. If you can automate enough of the long haul grind that the driver could possibly be sleeping then you have a massive competitive advantage over everyone else.
If you don't automate enough to be able to skirt the DOT time rules there's not much of a competitive advantage.
Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers
#35For those concerned with jobs to be eliminated, it might not be as big a problem as we think for the trucking industry. "Over the next 10 years, he said, we need to attract almost 900,000 new people to the industry. Demographics is a big part of the problem. ATA’s research arm, the American Transportation Research Institute, recently updated its demographic data on drivers and found some 57% of drivers are 45 or olde…
> However, the economic pie will be enlarged and there will be more to share. How the fruits of technology will be distributed will depend to a large extent on negotiations and politics.
If recent history is any indication of how this will turn out, it's not going to be pretty. The rich get richer and everyone else gets screwed.
Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers
#36For those concerned with jobs to be eliminated, it might not be as big a problem as we think for the trucking industry. "Over the next 10 years, he said, we need to attract almost 900,000 new people to the industry. Demographics is a big part of the problem. ATA’s research arm, the American Transportation Research Institute, recently updated its demographic data on drivers and found some 57% of drivers are 45 or olde…
Generally, the idea of stifling innovation to "preserve jobs" is harmful to society. Upon choosing a career, you should consider the longevity of that career. Some people will still pick wrong for a multitude of reasons. Hopefully, those people can pivot. It is unreasonable to hold the entire population back to continue employing those in a specific field. If we consistently did that, we'd be in the stone age and our…
Absolutely. Automated trucks will allow shipping costs to be much cheaper which will stimulate the economy in 1000 different ways
Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers
#37For those concerned with jobs to be eliminated, it might not be as big a problem as we think for the trucking industry. "Over the next 10 years, he said, we need to attract almost 900,000 new people to the industry. Demographics is a big part of the problem. ATA’s research arm, the American Transportation Research Institute, recently updated its demographic data on drivers and found some 57% of drivers are 45 or olde…
It's not a major point, but I'd be curious to know the average age that the over-45 drivers started driving. Did they drive from their 20s, or did they pick up truck driving as a 2nd or 3rd career?
Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why do you think our rail infrastructure is pathetic? It's the largest freight rail networks in the world. It sucks for passengers but that's not relevant to this discussion.
You're right -- it's better than I thought, though it's still in the middle of the pack when measured by track per person or track per area: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_tran... I guess I'm biased by seeing all the abandoned rail, since it's well down from its peak.
Check out the usage statistics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_usag...
Most tonnage shipped by rail in the world, with 10x more than the EU.
Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd expect they'll make potholes much worse, with all trucks driving exactly over the same spot repeatedly, until they learn to avoid the pothole. Perhaps Waze-style reporting will fill the gap.
Don't you think they'd be able to take that into account with the software? Large trucks already put a huge amount of wear like that on highways (I've seen plenty of ruts from trucks in asphalt roads). Technology like this is an opportunity to actually improve the wear patterns.
Without wanting to sound too cynical: Why would a private company care about the wear patterns of public highways?
Unless it's affecting the operation of their fleet, in a negative way, they don't have any reason at all to improve anything about it.
Especially considering how this does not look like a trivial problem to solve. Wouldn't something like this require an additional sensor suite to check for more detailed road conditions? What about the future, when other companies start doing the same, wouldn't that require some level of cross-company cooperation to make sure trucks take somewhat randomized lines on the street, to reduce wear?
Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers
#40I assume these self-driving trucks still have a human driver in them. So, which exact parts are self-driving? Is it like Tesla's autopilot where it does lane following, cruise control and keeping the distance on highways?
> So, which exact parts are self-driving? Just enough of it that they can skirt the DOT hour rules about hours worked while still blaming the driver for any crashes or tickets would be my guess. That's the obvious lowest hanging fruit as far as trucking is concerned. If you can automate enough of the long haul grind that the driver could possibly be sleeping then you have a massive competitive advantage over everyone…
> Just enough of it that they can skirt the DOT hour rules
Source?