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Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

cnn.com

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Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#111

Post by khuey »

tcmart14 wrote: post #81
robocat wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure governments learn by seeing the mistakes of other governments. But consecutive New Zealand governments have made some big mistakes. Capitalist party sold the national rail to an Australian company because rail was inefficient and costing a ton. Privately run cut back staff significantly. A few years later the story was that that was failing privately run, so the socialist party bought it back at exhorbit…

Dumb American, so I could be totally off base. But New Zealand appears small enough on the map that just doing a shit ton of barges along defined coastal water routes makes a lot more sense than trains. In the US trains could be efficient, but we are also like 2,500 miles coast to coast.

New Zealand doesn't have inland waterways the way the US does so barges don't seem sufficient. They did actually get a fancy self-propelled barge for use transporting minerals on the West Coast of the South Island last year and it got pushed aground by a storm in its first couple weeks of service. It's been sitting in port in Nelson ever since being refloated.

https://maritime-executive.com/article/barge-to-innovate-new...

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#112

Post by bryanlarsen »

tcmart14 wrote: post #89
bryanlarsen wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With 14,000 drivers there's going to be continuous turnover. Edit: Also, Wal-mart's standards are incredibly high -- several years of clean driving experience. Most commercial truck drivers do not meet those standards. Despite the high standards, they still readily fill their positions. If they were having troubles, they'd lower their standards.

There is also just turn over, from my understanding from a former co-worker who had a kid go into truck driving, that truck drivers very rarely stay at the same company long term. New drivers get their training paid for and have an obligation to fill (ex walmart pays for training and pays you while you do it, but you have a 2-3 year obligation to them). Once they do that, they move on to another company. I am assumin…

That's the rule, but AFAICT Wal-Mart is the exception to the rule. They don't train anybody without years of loyalty to the company, I don't think they have obligations. It's the dream job for most truckers from what I hear, and once you get in you don't leave. Wal-Mart pays a solid 6 figures with great home time. You can make more than that with your own truck, but it's hard.

I'm sure it's like any job -- everything else can be great, but if you get stuck with a bad boss it can make you absolutely miserable and drive you out.

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#113

Post by sephamorr »

o11c wrote: post #101
recursivedoubts wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

next level would be to hook these "platoons" together physically and then centralize the propulsion in a super efficient package. And then we could move them off the highways and onto specialized "tracks" that guarantee they don't deviate from the planned routes. speculative, alien technology, admittedly, but some day our scientists will figure it out i bet!

The problem with railroad is exactly the other side of this: that you can't trivially and automatically detach a single car at any point. I know businesses that literally have an old railroad branch line right up to their door, but they can't actually order anything meaningful via rail. The existing rail system has at least the following constraints: * Uses steel-on-steel friction, rather than rubber-on-rock. Cars th…

My previous company, Parallel Systems is working on this. The solution looks a lot like trucks on rail: individual locomotion, so you get the flexibility of trucking, but the energy efficiency and automation ease of rail. With modern braking, you can stop a Parallel vehicle about as fast as a truck. There's a ton of rail that's underutilized, particularly in Metro areas, so you almost get a fresh highway for free. Vehicles can platoon or separate at will.

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#114

Post by 01HNNWZ0MV43FF »

recursivedoubts wrote: post #56
EvanAnderson wrote: post #32

There's also a trial of "platooning" of driverless trucks on I-70 in Ohio and Indiana: https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbishop1/2025/04/24/ease-... A "drivered" lead truck is leading one or more driverless trucks in this case. I drive the stretch of highway these trucks are on fairly regularly. I don't know that I've seen a group of them yet but I'm keeping my eye out. I'm probably just showing my age, but I like…

next level would be to hook these "platoons" together physically and then centralize the propulsion in a super efficient package. And then we could move them off the highways and onto specialized "tracks" that guarantee they don't deviate from the planned routes. speculative, alien technology, admittedly, but some day our scientists will figure it out i bet!

And people could just vote for things to be better!

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#115

Post by wahern »

o11c wrote: post #101
recursivedoubts wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

next level would be to hook these "platoons" together physically and then centralize the propulsion in a super efficient package. And then we could move them off the highways and onto specialized "tracks" that guarantee they don't deviate from the planned routes. speculative, alien technology, admittedly, but some day our scientists will figure it out i bet!

The problem with railroad is exactly the other side of this: that you can't trivially and automatically detach a single car at any point. I know businesses that literally have an old railroad branch line right up to their door, but they can't actually order anything meaningful via rail. The existing rail system has at least the following constraints: * Uses steel-on-steel friction, rather than rubber-on-rock. Cars th…

They can all be changed, but then the capital costs for rail infrastructure would balloon and diminish the 3-5x cost advantage rail has over trucking. The modern rail business is structured (physically and, especially, financially) to squeeze every last cent out of existing infrastructure with minimal investment. I doubt that will change significantly anytime soon. The public road infrastructure subsidizes trucking (even after factoring in use and fuel taxes), and perhaps more importantly trucking companies don't have to contend with legal hurdles like land acquisition--the government handles that. (Land acquisition delays have been the biggest barrier for CAHSR.)

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#116

Post by wahern »

nicoburns wrote: post #84
krapp wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me know where you can find a competent government not currently trying to burn down its own consumer-based economy with tariffs and xenophobia and which doesn't consider trains a communist plot. And whether they take American passports.

Trains are as popular as ever almost everywhere in Europe.

Rail freight's share of shipping has been on a steep decline for decades in Europe:

> Freight rail’s modal share has been in decline across Europe, both in terms of market share and the profitability of major operators. In France for instance, modal share declined by 50 percent, from around 30 percent in the 1980s to 15 percent today. By contrast, road transport has been steadily increasing. In 1980, less than 50 percent of goods were transported by road. This rose to more than 75 percent by 2018.

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/infrastructure/our-insig...

By contrast, for most of that same period (1980-today) rail freight was growing its share in the US, though in the past decade or so growth has favored trucking.

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#117

Post by AlotOfReading »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #59
somethoughts wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slight difference is that there are more lanes and there's dual usage (daytime - regular auto access, nighttime - truck train access). The benefit is to utilize existing access rights and infrastructure.

The freight rail network is fairly expansive[0] -- sure not as much as the Interstate road network, but has pretty good coverage. The reason trucks are so popular and necessary is because they go beyond the interstate highways. Until self-driving trucks handle that portion safely and successfully, they're not much more useful than trains. [0] https://external-preview.redd.it/VPeHZG0mzsNhJGAHJglxW1jn4Y0...

This wildly misunderstands the nature of modern trucking. Trucks have many different roles, they're not just trains that don't need tracks. Trucks can work as on-demand transport, they can do low-volume, infrequent trips, they can aggregate and offload containers much easier, they're universally receivable at both ends with a minimum of infrastructure, etc. These autonomous trucks are competing with long haul human-driven trucks taking stuff from one depot to another, not short haul trucks.

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#118

Post by maxerickson »

hbsbsbsndk wrote: post #39
lewdev wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of how ATMs created more banking jobs because people started to use the bank more along with ATMs. ATMs handled the simple transactions and tellers dealt with the more complex tasks. We'll see. There will be a loss of little industries that depended on truckers though, like truck stops and inns. I also hope that this results in more jobs that are fulfilling.

Have you been to a bank branch recently? There is almost no staff, and to get help you have to call an offshored call center.

My little credit union usually has 3-4 tellers and some additional staff that handle more complicated stuff.

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#119

Post by [deleted] »

reaperducer wrote: post #34
somethoughts wrote: post #30

I feel like the ideal scenario would be to prioritize self driving truck at set times and set long haul freeways (i.e. Long Beach to Las Vegas or Galveston to Dallas) during the night time when there is no regular auto traffic - for example from 1 am-6 am. That way if a human driver is concerned, they can choose not to drive during this period of time. Perhaps run the trucks in a train style configuration where a "co…

Put the driverless truck in their own roads and you've just reinvented the train. The only difference is how maintenance of the route is paid for.

[deleted]

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#120

Post by mulmen »

triceratops wrote: post #83
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if a human driver is concerned, they can choose not to drive during this period of time Self-driving cars are currently proving safer than manually-piloted ones. There isn’t a good reason to segregate traffic like this. > what would stop a few cars passage in front of the truck and helping themselves to the cargo Why do you think a trucker would risk life or even their truck in a highway robbery?

> Why do you think a trucker would risk life or even their truck in a highway robbery? That's an armed robbery whereas stealing from a robo-truck is more like breaking and entering. Robberies require the willingness and ability to commit violence. Having a human witness present means more risk of things going wrong, even if they don't intervene. I think all these factors prevent a lot of potential crimes.

These trucks are already covered in cameras. The self driving ones even more. How does this highway robbery even work? You force the autonomous truck to stop, take an angle grinder to the doors, then... unpack all the crates and boxes and hope you find something good that's also small enough to get away with? it just doesn't pass the sniff test for me.
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