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Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers

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Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers

#41

Post by username223 »

vinay427 wrote: post #32
username223 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 metri…

They're not perfect, but they seem useful to me: roughly how much stuff per mile is on your rails, and how far do you have to travel to reach it? Do you have some cost per mile figures to share?

Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers

#42

Post by lonelyw0lf »

The video ad is so crazy -- we still need a human to lock/unlock the cargo?? and its good for the truckers because they can go home early to their family??

The first part can be trivially automated and the second is just stupid. Truckers get paid per hour of work, less work == less money.

AI-self-driving has arrived but to make the transition look "humane" as in the AD is crazy. Almost insults the intelligence of these guys who have been driving our cargo around for whole generations.

Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers

#43

Post by lambda_lover »

mtgx wrote: post #30
julbaxter wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without the rails.

Will Uber pay a bigger portion of the road repair taxes? Especially considering truckers already pay a disproportionately lower tax compared to the impact they have on the roads.

Do they? I mean, trucks are hardly gas efficient, and aren't most roads maintained (supposedly) via gas taxes?

The question, I suppose, is how much harder they are on the roads relative to their fuel efficiency.

Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers

#44

Post by secabeen »

username223 wrote: post #24
gaadd33 wrote: post #16

Earlier 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.

Yeah, the US rail system is the best in the world for freight. In other countries, passenger rail has priority, so the freight service suffers a bit. In the US, it's the other way around.

Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers

#45

Post by ShabbosGoy »

lonelyw0lf wrote: post #42

The video ad is so crazy -- we still need a human to lock/unlock the cargo?? and its good for the truckers because they can go home early to their family?? The first part can be trivially automated and the second is just stupid. Truckers get paid per hour of work, less work == less money. AI-self-driving has arrived but to make the transition look "humane" as in the AD is crazy. Almost insults the intelligence of the…

I think it will be some time before the big shipping players all decide to switch to self-driving trucks. We’re still a decade away from complete vehicular automation.

> The first part can be trivially automated and the second is just stupid. Truckers get paid per hour of work, less work == less money.

You could always pay them a salary and benefits, and hopefully UBI would exist at that point. Of course it’s unlikely for Uber to do that, because their strategy has been the exact opposite.

Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers

#46

Post by lsy »

lambda_lover wrote: post #43
mtgx wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will Uber pay a bigger portion of the road repair taxes? Especially considering truckers already pay a disproportionately lower tax compared to the impact they have on the roads.

Do they? I mean, trucks are hardly gas efficient, and aren't most roads maintained (supposedly) via gas taxes? The question, I suppose, is how much harder they are on the roads relative to their fuel efficiency.

Fuel efficiency decreases generally relative to the surface area of the front of the vehicle, where road damage increases with the mass of the vehicle. So a long, heavy vehicle like a truck is indeed harder on the road relative to their fuel efficiency.

Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers

#47

Post by snaveed »

mtgx wrote: post #30
julbaxter wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without the rails.

Will Uber pay a bigger portion of the road repair taxes? Especially considering truckers already pay a disproportionately lower tax compared to the impact they have on the roads.

This represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the rationale for taxation.

There is a societal benefit to efficient means of transportation. You, along with most other people, are reaping the benefits of truckers using roads to deliver cargo.

Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers

#48

Post by inverse_pi »

lonelyw0lf wrote: post #42

The video ad is so crazy -- we still need a human to lock/unlock the cargo?? and its good for the truckers because they can go home early to their family?? The first part can be trivially automated and the second is just stupid. Truckers get paid per hour of work, less work == less money. AI-self-driving has arrived but to make the transition look "humane" as in the AD is crazy. Almost insults the intelligence of the…

hmm, Im not an expert but isn't your logic based on constant supply/demand? Once self driving trucks become mainstream could it be that truckers will do fewer long trips but more shorter trips which doesn't necessarily lower their income?

Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers

#49

Post by djrogers »

lonelyw0lf wrote: post #42

The video ad is so crazy -- we still need a human to lock/unlock the cargo?? and its good for the truckers because they can go home early to their family?? The first part can be trivially automated and the second is just stupid. Truckers get paid per hour of work, less work == less money. AI-self-driving has arrived but to make the transition look "humane" as in the AD is crazy. Almost insults the intelligence of the…

Truckers generally get paid per mile, not per hour. They are also heavily regulated as to the number of hours they can drive (why you see so many husband/wife driving teams).

One can easily foresee a future where a self-driving truck has a driver in it who is only driving 'regulated' hours for a small portion of a trip (say during high traffic, highway entry/exit, etc). The driver could spend the rest of his time sleeping, reading, or coding - he'd basically be a passenger.

If a truck can haul for 20-30 hours without stopping for overnights, that dramatically changes the economies of fast freight.

Re: Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers

#50

Post by undersuit »

mtgx wrote: post #30
julbaxter wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without the rails.

Will Uber pay a bigger portion of the road repair taxes? Especially considering truckers already pay a disproportionately lower tax compared to the impact they have on the roads.

In the United States trucks are already taxed at higher rates because of their weights. That's why we have weight stations scattered throughout our highways though automation and technology have reduced their need.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weigh_station

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