Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
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Re: Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
#2Solving even limited self-driving truck driving would be a huge win. (Geofenced to certain roads)
There’s an immediate need and it would save companies a lot of money.
Re: Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
#3I always wondered why it seems we've get automated trucks pretty soon everywhere, but there is almost no one talking about self driving trains?
Re: Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
#4I always wondered why it seems we've get automated trucks pretty soon everywhere, but there is almost no one talking about self driving trains?
London Underground wants to automate the trains, so there is plenty of "talk".
A freight train labour cost is much smaller comparing to trucking.
Re: Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
#5I always wondered why it seems we've get automated trucks pretty soon everywhere, but there is almost no one talking about self driving trains?
The quoted costs for positive train control just seem astronomical for what is actually being achieved;
> Under RSIA08, PTC is required on about 60,000 miles of railroad track. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) estimates full PTC implementation will cost approximately $14 billion. [1]
I understand that everything looks simple from the outside, and these have to be rugged, reliable, redundant, and failsafe, but that’s a lot of dollars per mile for sensors.
> PTC uses signals and sensors along the track to communicate train location, speed restrictions, and moving authority. If the locomotive is violating a speed restriction or moving authority, on- board equipment will automatically slow or stop the train. A more expansive version of PTC, called communications-based train control (CBTC), would bring additional safety benefits plus business benefits for railroad operators, such as increased capacity and reduced fuel consumption. However, CBTC is not currently being installed by any U.S. railroad, due to the additional cost and the challenge of meeting implementation deadlines.
So we’re talking about basically AEB (automatic emergency braking) for trains, and it costs $200k per mile to deploy? I don’t get it.
> Based on analysis of past PTC-preventable incidents, the FRA estimated in 2009 that $90 million in annual safety benefits will be realized after full implementation of PTC.
Oh good, breakeven without accounting for any time value of money in only 155 years. The only word that comes to mind is boondoggle.
Re: Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
#6Back in 1987, at my first job at Hewlett-Packard, they had a little robot that would deliver mail. This was their plant in Loveland, CO, I believe it was the first non-California site HP opened.
Along the main hallways there was some sort of retroreflective tape laid down, and the robot, which looked like and equipment cart, would follow that tape. At every stop it would sound a chime and the secretary for that section would come out and retrieve a bundle of mail and distribute it to their people.
Super simple implementation, but it worked quite well for what it did.
Re: Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
#7>TuSimple and the USPS declined to disclose the cost of the program, but Frum said no tax dollars were used and the agency relies on revenue from sales of postage and other products.
Really? This is exactly the kind of thing we should be spending tax dollars on. I have no idea why people think the USPS is this giant wasteful pit of money in the federal budget but they provide a lot of valuable services in addition to steady employment for a lot of Americans.
Re: Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
#8I always wondered why it seems we've get automated trucks pretty soon everywhere, but there is almost no one talking about self driving trains?
You need a lot more people to move the same amount of cargo in trucks, so there is a lot more money to be saved.
The consequences of individual crashes is also higher, which changes the perception and consequences of mistakes, even if the number of trucks means the actual scale of the problem might be similar.
Re: Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
#9I always wondered why it seems we've get automated trucks pretty soon everywhere, but there is almost no one talking about self driving trains?
I'm curious what the return looks like for self driving trains.
I'm going to bet for both safety and employment, trains and transport ships are orders of magnitude more efficient already. Trucks are a pretty big source of human inefficiency.
Re: Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
#10Headline is misleading IMO. This is for long-haul mail routing from post office to post office, not last mile delivery.