Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

cnn.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 363 posts

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#191

Post by mmooss »

Spooky23 wrote: post #149
monkaiju wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So instead of improve their conditions we just fire them? Sure that won't have any negative repercussions... That's even assuming this is actually remotely profitable compared to just using humans. Like a lot of this sort of automation it probably isn't, and it's true purpose is to be used as a threat against workers so they'll be even more "compelled to work without sleep to finish routes with tight deadlines"

My brother is in this business. There’s overlapping jurisdictions that shady operators leverage hard to squeeze more out of people and equipment. Chinatown busses are the perfect example, they’d run routes designed to avoid federal jurisdiction and adopt routes and schedules to avoid weigh stations and routine inspection. Busses were unsafe and drivers unlicensed in many cases. Most were owned by Chinese mafia organi…

> The federal motor carrier safety administration had a robust, science based program to improve safety and improve conditions in most scenarios. My understanding is that 80% of the staff was fired and resigned

When was that? And is there anything public we can read about these things?

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#192

Post by LorenPechtel »

tw04 wrote: post #88
floxy wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why aren't trains automated yet? I mean, beside the inter-airport shuttles. Seems like a much more constrained set of parameters to deal with. I'd think this would be a good "first" project to tackle for an AV company, even if the economics of replacing locomotive drivers/engineers weren't super compelling. Is it an insurance thing? Because a train wreck could be much more disastrous and costly? Or is it a union t…

> So why aren't trains automated yet? Why? The labor of a conductor is a fraction of the total cost to move the cargo, to the point it’s a rounding error.

And it means someone on site to react sensibly when things go wrong.

Think of the Miracle on the Hudson. The pilot said "This is the captain. Brace for impact." The flight attendants picked up on that and immediately began directing the passengers on what "brace for impact" means. Without that how many would have reacted properly (the info is on the safety card, but how many have read it well enough??), how many would be asking for information, how many would just generally be panicking?

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#193

Post by mmooss »

throwawayUS9 wrote: post #3
rolph wrote: post #2

hitchhikers, stowaways, and truck parts thieves will thank you.

Looks like there will be a vehicle (manned of course) following the trucks at this time (the same way oversized cargo/load moves today).

That can't be the long term plan for self-driving trucks?

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#194

Post by throwaway48476 »

isx726552 wrote: post #129
smallmancontrov wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Swarms of murderbots are cheaper than UBI. This is going to get ugly.

I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. It is absolutely in the cards for the ownership class to send out swarms of drones to kill us all. The best we can hope for is to all end up in permanent slums picking through garbage to survive. One peep of protest a little too loud and suddenly we’ll all be living the same scenario that’s visible all over the “combat footage” portions of the web: you are walking along outdoo…

There's a lot of truth to that however the supply chain for everything today has never been longer or had more intermediaries. It's like a house of cards built ever higher and no one has budgeted anything for resilience. JIT, outsourcing, etc, everything is cheaper at the cost of resilience.

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#195

Post by throwaway48476 »

DrillShopper wrote: post #69
RankingMember wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UBI is inevitable imo; we're going to continue to see machines replace humans in roles like this.

Who is going to willingly fund it?

Best case scenario another Ford comes along.

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#197

Post by lionkor »

gerdesj wrote: post #168

When these things can drive to Moose Fucker in the far north, across frozen lakes etc then we are in the future. For now: cute but could do better.

This is phrased like you're moving the goal post, and that's not really a good way to have a discussion about this.

I think this sucks, because my gut tells me it sucks, the same way AI in everything sucks -- it just sounds kinda weird. But, of course, when I think about it, it makes sense in a lot of places. The only way for me to have a valid counterpoint to that is if I move the goalpost. I implore you to not move that goalpost, even if it feels right.

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#198

Post by ortusdux »

Is anyone working on an electric truck system where the battery is on the trailer? Many businesses are constantly rotating the same dry van trailers between hubs. If you charged the trailers at the doc during loading/unloading, the rigs could run 24/7, only stopping to swap trailers.

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#199

Post by dylan604 »

encrypted_bird wrote: post #182
throwaway48476 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone dug into newspaper archives and found an example of the "nobody wants to work anymore" phrase every year for the last 100 years. The phrase likely predates the printing press. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32161426

This doesn't surprise me in the least. It's the same thing with older people claiming moral degeneration with younger generations.

Or every generations' younger crowd that think the olds are senile fools that have no clue about anything today and mainly tolerated and polite to as long as they are in the room, but then immediately make fun of them as soon as they leave. As if there's no wisdom that could be shared from their experience. The folly of youth thinking they are invincible is equal to this so called claiming of moral degeneration.

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#200

Post by makeitdouble »

floxy wrote: post #86
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!

So why aren't trains automated yet? I mean, beside the inter-airport shuttles. Seems like a much more constrained set of parameters to deal with. I'd think this would be a good "first" project to tackle for an AV company, even if the economics of replacing locomotive drivers/engineers weren't super compelling. Is it an insurance thing? Because a train wreck could be much more disastrous and costly? Or is it a union t…

https://www.grandparisexpress.fr/new-metro
Post reply on HN