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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

#161

Post by snoman »

iak8god wrote: post #135
LethargicStud wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Upon choosing a career, you should consider the longevity of that career. Isn't it lucky we humans are so very good at predicting the future!? When I was taking computer vision courses little more than a decade ago, self driving cars were pure science fiction. Part of me hopes software development is the next job we automate away, just so everyone in forums like this who are so impressed with their own excellent li…

It's not far from it. Software development is in small company with respect to the need for constant re-education and skill maintenance. The vast majority of developers with skills from just 10 years ago are wholly unemployable right now.

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

#162

Post by txsh »

LethargicStud wrote: post #33
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…

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…

When I graduted high school during the .com bust my father told me not to major in CS in college because there wouldn’t be any jobs for me when I graduated.

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

#163

Post by dsfyu404ed »

notatoad wrote: post #130
cgb223 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having grown up in an area where becoming a trucker is a common enough career path, I can tell you that the hours of work thing (which is really miles per work, but they correlate) lands some truckers in some sketchy situations Many of my friends have told me they take those gas station "energy supplements" so they can stay up for 2-3 straight days to log more hours and make the trip. Thats probably not healthy for t…

>trucks could drive themselves with a passenger trucker to intervene in tricky situations this scenario has been mentioned a couple times in this thread, but if the automation isn't good enough to handle 100% of the journey 100% of the time, then it's really not good enough to allow the trucker to simply be a passenger. If the operator might have to take control in tricky situations, they can't be sleeping the rest o…

> If the operator might have to take control in tricky situations, they can't be sleeping the rest of the time.

A tricky situation for a computer is often not a tricky situation for a human. 99% of it will be the AI getting confused by things that are simple for humans (e.g interpreting detour signs).

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

#164

Post by txsh »

11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #37
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…

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?

Annecdotal evidence but I know two people who started in their 50s. It’s a good second career for people who are getting too slow for manual labor.

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

#165

Post by dsfyu404ed »

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…

You can already do that to a normal truck. It's not really a problem. It'll be rare enough to fall under the umbrella of "that's what insurance is for"

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

#166

Post by stcredzero »

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.

It is a pity, because from the raw numbers trains are much less expensive then tracks.

Often, the flexibility and reduced latency of freight by truck is worth the increased per-mile cost.

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

#168

Post by smsm42 »

snoman wrote: post #161
iak8god wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Upon choosing a career, you should consider the longevity of that career. Isn't it lucky we humans are so very good at predicting the future!? When I was taking computer vision courses little more than a decade ago, self driving cars were pure science fiction. Part of me hopes software development is the next job we automate away, just so everyone in forums like this who are so impressed with their own excellent li…

It's not far from it. Software development is in small company with respect to the need for constant re-education and skill maintenance. The vast majority of developers with skills from just 10 years ago are wholly unemployable right now.

You mean somebody who knows how to develop in Java, PHP, Python, Perl, C, C++, Javascript, Ruby, LISP - all languages developed more than 10 years ago - is "wholly unemployable right now"? Doesn't seem to match my experience even a little bit. Programming practices also hasn't changed that much. In fact, there are still jobs for COBOL and Fortran programmers - not that many, but there aren't that many COBOL and Fortran programmers either nowdays.

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

#169

Post by smsm42 »

CaptSpify wrote: post #139
LethargicStud wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Although I agree with you, the problem (in the US at least) is that pivoting is nearly impossible for a large group of people. Our educational system is expensive and generally has terrible quality, and we don't have very good social programs to help float people while they are getting re-educated. If we push innovation without changing these problems, it's not gonna be pretty.

If you don't need shiny credentials, educational system is much less expensive - there are community colleges, courses, free or low-cost online education, etc. Most costly educational requirements arise when coupled with licensing requirements - if you need an official paper, you're gonna pay.

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

#170

Post by fenwick67 »

dahart wrote: post #158
lawguy wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hell one of the reasons passenger trains is shit in the US is that passenger rail does not get priority over freight They do have priority: > (c) Preference over freight transportation. -- Except in an emergency, intercity and commuter rail passenger transportation provided by or for Amtrak has preference over freight transportation in using a rail line, junction, or crossing... http://codes.findlaw.com/us/title-49…

Passenger rail is supposed to have priority by law, but in practice they don't always get it. Freight carriers don't always yield, enough so that there are ongoing legal battles. You can check Amtrak's historical On-Time Performance and causes of delay here: https://www.amtrak.com/about-amtrak/on-time-performance/ My quick sampling of ~10 trains came up with an average around 65% on-time during the last year. The onl…

Yeah I've ridden the Zephyr from Chicago to Colorado (and back) a few times, and it was off-schedule about half the time, one of them was at least 4 hours of just sitting there in the train in the middle of nowhere.

One hour I can understand, four is ridiculous. The trip is pleasant and the views are great but for me to take it again they're going to have to do better than 50% on-time.

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