Uber self-driving trucks are now moving cargo for Uber Freight customers • Hacker News Board

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

#231

Post by 0942v8653 » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 12:40 AM UTC

HumanDrivenDev wrote: post #183

hanbura wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Part of me hopes software development is the next job we automate away We are hard at work automating software development. Thanks to massive advances in programming language design, IDEs, the invention of module systems in combination with the massive success of OSS in that space and the proliferation of massive frameworks, something that took a year of work two decades ago is now at best a weekend project of a muc…

> Thanks to massive advances in programming language design What massive advances in programming language design have we had since 1998!?

While a lot of the real advances in language design are not new, popular adoption of stuff like functional programming has happened in large part in the last twenty years. E.g. list comprehensions in Python were not introduced until Python 2.0 (2000, which just squeezes into your range). And Java is starting to get similar features, which is great for companies who have invested in the language.

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

#232

Post by squidlogic » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 12:42 AM UTC

stefan_ wrote: post #195

stcredzero wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Freight by truck is worth it because of flexibility and reduced latency, flexibility and reduced latency are worth it because of just-in-time production, just-in-time production is worth it because of less inventory, less inventory is worth it because of less money locked up in inventory, less money locked up in inventory is worth it because of better cash flow on the quarterly reports, better cash flow on the quarte…

Low inventory is also worth it because it uncovers operational inefficiencies. So it not only helps you become more profitable, but also more reliable.

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

#233

Post by mlvljr » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 12:45 AM UTC

orthecreedence wrote: post #225

antihero wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 deve…

JUST PREDICT 40+ YEARS INTO THE FUTURE AND PICK THE RIGHT CAREER GOSH IT'S NOT HARD DERR.

d o w n v o t e t h i s

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

#234

Post by nopinsight » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 12:54 AM UTC

nvahalik wrote: post #201

dizzystar wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A full-time care taker is also often living in the house. So, even if they are are only getting paid $22k, that money isn't really going to any expenses. They are likely getting paid more than that anyways.

I'm not sure how "often" but some do. There might be people with special arrangements but if you are like the people I interact with then you probably engage with an assisted living agency for anywhere from $18-$30/hr. Let's take the low number as an example. $18 * 24 * 365 = $157.7K per year. How many people can afford $150k just for care? Not very many. And $18/hr is on the very low end of the spectrum. If you're a…

Assuming the actual work to care for an elderly with non-full-time need is up to 8 hours a day, paid at $12 per hour, the cost would be 8 * 365 * $12 = $35,040 per year. Other family members can hopefully cover the rest of hours if needed.

My question: What are the benefits of going through an agency when the cost could be over 100% higher than hiring someone directly? Hiring direct allows you to screen in person and makes sure there is a good fit of personality and other factors too.

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

#235

Post by mattkrause » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 1:04 AM UTC

squidlogic wrote: post #232

stefan_ wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Freight by truck is worth it because of flexibility and reduced latency, flexibility and reduced latency are worth it because of just-in-time production, just-in-time production is worth it because of less inventory, less inventory is worth it because of less money locked up in inventory, less money locked up in inventory is worth it because of better cash flow on the quarterly reports, better cash flow on the quarte…

Low inventory is also worth it because it uncovers operational inefficiencies. So it not only helps you become more profitable, but also more reliable.

Doesn't it also mean that when things go wrong, they go really wrong?

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

#236

Post by megy » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 1:10 AM UTC

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #55

I am not sure that I want a company that is most famous for breaking rules, skirting regulation, and stealing medical records of it's victims operating large freight trucks on public roads.

This is a good point, but it can no way be worse than what we have now.

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

#237

Post by nerfhammer » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 1:24 AM UTC

maxerickson wrote: post #219

nerfhammer wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

A few percentage points on the entire economy? Not good enough?

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

#238

Post by stephengillie » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 1:30 AM UTC

stefan_ wrote: post #195

stcredzero wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Freight by truck is worth it because of flexibility and reduced latency, flexibility and reduced latency are worth it because of just-in-time production, just-in-time production is worth it because of less inventory, less inventory is worth it because of less money locked up in inventory, less money locked up in inventory is worth it because of better cash flow on the quarterly reports, better cash flow on the quarte…

> ...less inventory is worth it because of less money locked up in inventory...

Less inventory is worth it because space is money, especially on a retail shelf.

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

#239

Post by mikeash » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 1:34 AM UTC

fenwick67 wrote: post #170

dahart wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I used to live on a small town on the Empire Builder line a few hours west of Chicago. It was once a day each way, and we'd get one direction in the morning, and the opposite direction in the afternoon. Or that was the theory. Often the morning train was so late that when you heard them sound the horn you wouldn't know if it was the afternoon train or the "morning" train.

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

#240

Post by stephengillie » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 1:35 AM UTC

temporalparts wrote: post #68

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…

Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) were set to put Bank Tellers out of a job, but since its introduction, the number of Bank Tellers increased [0]. While I can't guarantee that something similar will happen for truckers, automation does not guarantee that fewer humans will be employed doing that specific job. [0] http://www.aei.org/publication/what-atms-bank-tellers-rise-r...

Most grocery stores don't even have self-check stations. It's clear that these open more opportunities for loss than they generate returns in increased shopper throughout and return visits.

Meanwhile, my mother still curses the personal computer revolution for taking her job as a transcriptionist. Everyone types today, so specialists are rarely needed.