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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

#211

Post by EggsOnToast »

DoubleCribble wrote: post #204
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…

>much need for humans to take care of the maintenance of the trucks Is that really true? It seems electric trucks[0] quickly follow from autonomous trucks and from what I understand, electric vehicles are mechanically much simpler. That leaves truck operators with not much need for a greasemonkey wrenching on a transmission when there is a) little/no grease[1] and b) no transmission[2]. Tire & body shops are about th…

Slight tangent, how's the Tesla semi-truck been doing? When I was looking over the specs the range seemed low compared to a regular semi but I wasn't clear on if that was acceptable because they're targeting a particular subset of the semi-truck market.

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

#212

Post by antihero »

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…

Despite being a coder, I almost desire tech work to become replaced by machines at some point, with the only options of retraining to be prohibitively hard and leaving us in the dreadful position of these workers, just so I can watch people with attitudes like this get it handed to them.

The attitudes we have towards the unskilled, low-skilled, or those who are being replaced and made redundant by the systems we develop is sickening.

Describing someone spending extensive amounts of time and money retraining and having to abandon a career they've done for decades as "pivoting". Will you provide for their family in the years it takes them to be proficient at a skill that they can use to replace their income and support themselves? Or are we just all snidely sitting here with our tech know-how preaching to those who grew up in a different time, or with different opportunities, or who couldn't have ever predicted the scale to which their livelihoods would become obsolete?

"Hurts us a bit". Don't even speak like you're in the same boat as these people.

Don't get me wrong, progress will happen, but we need to make it socially aware and compassionate progress, not tough luck you didn't pick a the right career and now your life is fucked progress.

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

#213

Post by antihero »

LethargicStud wrote: post #202
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…

> Some people will still pick wrong for a multitude of reasons. Hopefully, those people can pivot. We are lucky as software engineers, but I was also making the point that if your line of work gets automated, hopefully you can pivot. This applies to everyone, and is similar to when you are no longer enjoying your field of work. Changing careers is not always an option, but let's not forget that it usually is when we…

So give them the support they need to retrain. We're creating so much value with these automated systems - who is the beneficiary? Surely the compassionate thing would be to use some of this resource to help those that have been trodden on by progress/

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

#214

Post by iak8god »

LethargicStud wrote: post #202
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…

> Some people will still pick wrong for a multitude of reasons. Hopefully, those people can pivot. We are lucky as software engineers, but I was also making the point that if your line of work gets automated, hopefully you can pivot. This applies to everyone, and is similar to when you are no longer enjoying your field of work. Changing careers is not always an option, but let's not forget that it usually is when we…

I'm hoping for a future where the machines do all the work required to provide everything human beings need to survive, AND where we've figured out a reasonable way to distribute resources in a world where not everyone will be able to "contribute to society" by spending huge amounts of their waking time doing something they'd not otherwise do, in exchange for tokens that can be redeemed for food and shelter.

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

#215

Post by jaf656s »

wongarsu wrote: post #155
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…

>some 57% of drivers are 45 or older. Only 4.4% are 20-24 years old For reference: Assuming a driver starts working at age 18 and retires at age 65, and given equal distribution of workers over all ages, you would expect 42% of workers to be 45 or older, and 10% of workers to be 20-24 years old (if you assume 21-70, then 51% should be 45 or older). Just in case anybody else was wondering what those numbers mean. As a…

Did you factor in truckers’ short life expectancy?

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

#216

Post by jaf656s »

DoubleCribble wrote: post #204
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…

>much need for humans to take care of the maintenance of the trucks Is that really true? It seems electric trucks[0] quickly follow from autonomous trucks and from what I understand, electric vehicles are mechanically much simpler. That leaves truck operators with not much need for a greasemonkey wrenching on a transmission when there is a) little/no grease[1] and b) no transmission[2]. Tire & body shops are about th…

There’s also a lot of drivetrain and suspension related maintenance, but it’s less than engine maintenance.

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

#217

Post by nerfhammer »

maxerickson wrote: post #131
sol_remmy wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. Automated trucks will allow shipping costs to be much cheaper which will stimulate the economy in 1000 different ways

Shipping is already cheap. Especially bulk shipping.

transportation costs add to the cost of literally everything

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

#218

Post by jaf656s »

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…

> In addition, there will still be much need for humans to take care of the maintenance of the trucks and manipulation of the cargo over the next couple decades. So there will likely be a significant number of truckers still employed, perhaps with increased productivity.

There’s already an industry that performs these tasks so there’d be a small percentage of absorption of current truck drivers.

You also assume there’d be more trucks, but there’d likely be fewer, at least at first. Since a fully automated truck could operate substantially more hours than with a driver. Drivers have hours of service that restrict how much they drive per day and per week.

Also, on a macro scale automated trucks wouldn’t be adopted if they didn’t displace workers.

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

#219

Post by maxerickson »

nerfhammer wrote: post #217
maxerickson wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shipping is already cheap. Especially bulk shipping.

transportation costs add to the cost of literally everything

Of course, but the point is that they don't actually add all that much cost. It's a few percent. A nice gain if it goes away, but not something that is going to fundamentally change the economy.

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

#220

Post by jaf656s »

sol_remmy wrote: post #36
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…

Absolutely. Automated trucks will allow shipping costs to be much cheaper which will stimulate the economy in 1000 different ways

What percentage of a trucking company’s costs do you think are paid to the driver?

It won’t lower shipping costs that much.

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