This Year, Autonomous Trucks Will Take to the Road with No One on Board • Hacker News Board

Re: This Year, Autonomous Trucks Will Take to the Road with No One on Board

#71

Post by njarboe » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 3:33 PM UTC

BotJunkie wrote: post #54

blakesterz wrote: post #8

"This year"... kinda... This year there will be the first real tests run with no one in the cab. "By 2024,TuSimple plans to achieve Level 4 autonomy, meaning that its trucks will be able to operate without a human driver under limited conditions that may include time of day, weather, or premapped routes." Somehow I've managed to miss that trucks are better for this stuff not just because of the type of driving they d…

I'm the author of this. It was certainly surprising to learn that a lot of what AVs are doing right now is limited by the amount of power available to the computers. It didn't make it into the article in full, but we were told that in general more computing power means detecting and classifying more object types, tracking those objects over longer periods of time, and doing more detailed motion prediction and plannin…

Seems like electric vehicles are not limited by this problem of power availability. One just has to be concerned by how much that power consumption for computer operation affects vehicle range.

Re: This Year, Autonomous Trucks Will Take to the Road with No One on Board

#72

Post by njarboe » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 3:37 PM UTC

ljlolel wrote: post #65

m3at wrote: post #55

Over the last five years prominent self-driving companies have consistently over promised and under-delivered. I was quite optimistic for the approach that Starsky chose (but unfortunately couldn't bring to market [1]) with autonomous segments combined with occasional remote assistance. It might not be as sexy as FSD but that's tech we can use now. That said, if this team can make it work, power to them! Edit: I real…

if any of them actually get on the road, then they would be endangering lives https://jperla.medium.com/tesla-saves-lives-waymo-gambles-pa...

Yes. Nothing new can ever be produced that can endanger lives.

And people wonder why living standards have not gone up since this idea grabbed a hold in society in the 1970's

Re: This Year, Autonomous Trucks Will Take to the Road with No One on Board

#73

Post by burkaman » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 3:37 PM UTC

onion2k wrote: post #2

If I block a road an autonomous truck is expecting to drive along, will it automatically reroute to another road? If it does, then these trucks are going to be very easy to rob simply by corralling them in to a quiet location..

Why don't you do that today? Do you expect a human truck driver to defend the cargo with a shotgun or something?

Re: This Year, Autonomous Trucks Will Take to the Road with No One on Board

#74

Post by coding123 » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 3:39 PM UTC

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #27

lookdangerous wrote: post #6

I wonder how an autonomous truck responds when a tire blows

Pull over and contact HQ? I mean it's a blown tire, not rocket science.

What parts of "pull over" related to an autonomous semi driving on a freeway looking for a spot that's not sheer, a bridge, unstable rock, mountainous, long enough and doesn't leave the ass in the freeway, not blocking an exit, etc.. is not harder than actual rocket science?

Re: This Year, Autonomous Trucks Will Take to the Road with No One on Board

#75

Post by bluGill » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 3:41 PM UTC

joehartshorn wrote: post #46

blakesterz wrote: post #8

"This year"... kinda... This year there will be the first real tests run with no one in the cab. "By 2024,TuSimple plans to achieve Level 4 autonomy, meaning that its trucks will be able to operate without a human driver under limited conditions that may include time of day, weather, or premapped routes." Somehow I've managed to miss that trucks are better for this stuff not just because of the type of driving they d…

>"Trucks are also a better platform for autonomy, with their large size providing more power for computers" I'm no expert but "power for computers" doesnt strike me as a bottleneck, Geohot/Comma seem to be doing fine, this just sounds like marketing bs

Trucks tend to have bigger alternators, so there is more power available. Even the most basic economy car has more than enough engine power, but the alternator can't deliver that power. The engine power instead mechanically goes through the transmission to the wheels. (in a hybrid car there are two alternators, one for the wheels and when for the rest of the electronics so the same problem exists)

the is solvable. you can buy bigger alternators, and in some cases there is enough room that they will even fit... However it is an additional upgrade that needs to be considered.

Re: This Year, Autonomous Trucks Will Take to the Road with No One on Board

#76

Post by bluGill » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 3:46 PM UTC

ARandomerDude wrote: post #58

Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But not really. The person never makes a fuss (nor can realistically do so), and netiher does want to make a fuss for a simple job for one company, driving cargo owned by another company, with overall operation insured by a third company that's just going to reimburse everyone.

Key assumption: the perpetrator is willing to leave the driver alive.

They typically are. Murder tends to get a higher level of police attention.

My understanding is the most common thing to do is take the trailer when the truck is parked and the driver is away.

Re: This Year, Autonomous Trucks Will Take to the Road with No One on Board

#77

Post by coding123 » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 3:47 PM UTC

Retric wrote: post #59

jessaustin wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is not the policy of drivers who wish to retain their CDL. Gradually disintegrating radials are a hazard to everyone on the road. It isn't as though blowouts are uncorrelated, anyway.

That’s the joke. The obvious choice for the AI is to slow down without applying full breaking power, find the nearest safe spot to pull over, and then call for assistance. But, boring yet practical solutions are hardly worth discussing.

It was a lone comment that actually has several compelling implications that we would hope the TuSimple company thinks about. Each step of that has to have functions related to those actions backed up by many neural nets. And if it's hardly worth discussing, why is it the only comment you replied to in this entire thread?

Re: This Year, Autonomous Trucks Will Take to the Road with No One on Board

#78

Post by xnyan » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 3:48 PM UTC

njarboe wrote: post #72

ljlolel wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if any of them actually get on the road, then they would be endangering lives https://jperla.medium.com/tesla-saves-lives-waymo-gambles-pa...

Yes. Nothing new can ever be produced that can endanger lives. And people wonder why living standards have not gone up since this idea grabbed a hold in society in the 1970's

What are some examples of risk not taken that have lead to falling living standards?

My understanding of the data is that living standards have fallen because wages for most workers have been fairly stagnate since the 70s while the price things like housing and healthcare has skyrocketed.

Re: This Year, Autonomous Trucks Will Take to the Road with No One on Board

#79

Post by lnsru » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 3:49 PM UTC

BotJunkie wrote: post #54

blakesterz wrote: post #8

"This year"... kinda... This year there will be the first real tests run with no one in the cab. "By 2024,TuSimple plans to achieve Level 4 autonomy, meaning that its trucks will be able to operate without a human driver under limited conditions that may include time of day, weather, or premapped routes." Somehow I've managed to miss that trucks are better for this stuff not just because of the type of driving they d…

I'm the author of this. It was certainly surprising to learn that a lot of what AVs are doing right now is limited by the amount of power available to the computers. It didn't make it into the article in full, but we were told that in general more computing power means detecting and classifying more object types, tracking those objects over longer periods of time, and doing more detailed motion prediction and plannin…

I am not a car specialist, but I am not buying this. Alternator can be upgraded: https://www.trucknews.com/products/600-amp-alternator-for-mi...

With 600 amps@24V one has 10 kW power for computers and the truck. That’s what 300 decent graphic cards consume.

Re: This Year, Autonomous Trucks Will Take to the Road with No One on Board

#80

Post by bluGill » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 3:49 PM UTC

Retric wrote: post #19

lookdangerous wrote: post #6

I wonder how an autonomous truck responds when a tire blows

Presumably the same thing human trucks do and keep driving. 7/8 is within the safety margin and 2 blowouts on the same trip is extremely rare. That’s the reason for a dual tire setup as it’s designed for this kind of redundancy.

Most trucks are moving to the single tire setup for the higher efficiency.