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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

#101

Post by ZeroGravitas »

emodendroket wrote: post #57
nopinsight wrote: post #8

For 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…

I rarely see justification for the idea that lump of labor is actually fallacious. Historically big die-offs have led to higher wages for survivors.

If those high wage earning survivors are also paying high wages to all the other survivors, then are they actually better off? My gut reaction is no, less people means less work is being done and you lose a lot of economies of scale.

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

#102

Post by inverse_pi »

fareesh wrote: post #95

Does the self driving truck have any kind of security? Given that there is a "do no harm" program embedded into the driving "subroutines", is there anything that prevents thieves from essentially surrounding the truck and robbing it in the middle of nowhere? Edit: To clarify I mean - in a hypothetical situation where it is ever driverless, couldnt 10 of us surround it, while I walk in and commandeer it, disable GPS a…

What prevents 10 of us from surrounding a real truck, walking in, forcing the driver out and driving off?

https://xkcd.com/1958/

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

#103

Post by marnett »

Shivetya wrote: post #22
nopinsight wrote: post #8

For 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…

anecdotal, but each summer I spend time at a hotel in the Austintown/Youngstown area which is a drop off point for newly "graduated" students from a trucking school. the old timers are there too and some are there to pick up their partner as many long distance services have two drivers per cab. the old timers are a great source of information and if anything stands out its how many new drivers don't cut it. most leav…

The book The Long Haul: A Trucker's Tales of Life on the Road captures a lot of stories with feelings like the ones you described; romanticism that stems from on identifying heavily through their work. Here is one of those stories from the book [1]; I'd recommend people in this thread give it a read, it is worth knowing the lives of so many Americans before it is automated and stories like these disappear.

https://longreads.com/2017/09/21/a-high-end-mover-dishes-on-...

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

#104

Post by Digit-Al »

fareesh wrote: post #95

Does the self driving truck have any kind of security? Given that there is a "do no harm" program embedded into the driving "subroutines", is there anything that prevents thieves from essentially surrounding the truck and robbing it in the middle of nowhere? Edit: To clarify I mean - in a hypothetical situation where it is ever driverless, couldnt 10 of us surround it, while I walk in and commandeer it, disable GPS a…

A future 'true' driverless truck would likely not have any human controls. Or the controls would be computer locked and would require a code to be activated.

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

#105

Post by jMyles »

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 get paid per hour of work, less work == less money.

Such a trivial and stupid reason to guide the future of technology and the human conditions. Of course people want to be home with their families instead of driving for weeks on end.

I find it dizzying that we think we can automate all of the matter around us to do what pleases us, but the matter of changing the socioeconomic configuration to match it seems a bridge too far. Come on now.

The economy (and society) will change, and this dude can stay with his family. Sounds great.

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

#106

Post by marnett »

LoSboccacc wrote: post #69
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…

weaving machinery is going to drive out of work all the textile workers!

No, no, that was off-shore child labor that did that.

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

#107

Post by slapshot »

ktpsns wrote: post #92

The funny thing in this US-centric view is that we have such a cargo since a century where trains play the role of "self-driving cargo". In europe, the decline of cargo on tracks (trains) is also partially owed to subsidiation of automobile traffic and highway expansions. It is a pity, because from the raw numbers trains are much less expensive then tracks.

In the U.S., rail freight volume appears to be going up and to the right, measuring both by distance-weight or just by total number of containers moved any distance: https://www.railserve.com/stats_records/freight_railroad_tra...

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

#109

Post by astrodust »

kirykl wrote: post #108
bluetwo wrote: post #20

I feel like they re-invented the train. :-)

Railroads have monopoly pricing power, this opens the door to competition

It opens the door to some company buying up the roads, and then you're right back to where you started.

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

#110

Post by astrodust »

undersuit wrote: post #50
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.

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

I'm sure Uber will come up with some bullshit reason why they don't have 'trucks' and don't have to pay taxes.
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