Will automation put an end to the American trucker?

Post by alacombe » Tue, Oct 10, 2017, 10:38 PM UTC

dchuk wrote: post #13

The most likely thing (imo) that will happen will be highway trains...there will be a real human driver in the front of the caravan, maybe just in a van or car, and then 1-10 self driving heavy duty trucks behind them. They'll draft off of each other and do 99% of the long haul route in an automated way. Once each truck is near it's destination, it will peel off of the pack and park itself near the highway, at which…

Post by ryandrake » Tue, Oct 10, 2017, 10:41 PM UTC

a2tech wrote: post #68

WalterBright wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rails are already there. When I drive down I5, you can see them. The reason this sorry state of affairs exists is because truck traffic is heavily subsidized (highways paid for with taxes) whereas rail traffic is heavily taxed (and the rail companies have to pay for the tracks). It could be improved by increasing weight taxes on trucks, and using the proceeds to subsidize intercity tracks.

At least in the United States, this is incorrect. Long haul trucking is expensive compared to shipping things via the rails. The reason things end up being shipped via truck is that its faster, plain and simple. Shipping via rail car is slow and has no guaranteed arrival date. Or should I say, dependable arrival date. And from a logistics stand point you have to engage a last mile trucker at the rail head nearest you…

Post by tyingq » Tue, Oct 10, 2017, 10:43 PM UTC

stefan8r wrote: post #91

WalterBright wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The long haul stuff should go on rails anyway. It's very wasteful to run it on the interstates. The majority of the fatigue damage to the highways comes from trucks, then there's all the rubber dust, fuel inefficiency, etc. The trailers should just be picked up and dropped on flatcars, and trucks used for intracity last mile stuff.

This is Stefan, from Starsky Robotics. I hear this all the time, and honestly in many cases a truck is the transportation of last resort. If you need 5 shipping containers of goods going from A->B all arriving at Time X; it's probably going by train. An issue with rail (as pointed out by others) is how to haul the freight from the rail head (rail yard) to the end warehouses, and the extra time it takes to have goods…

Post by ryandrake » Tue, Oct 10, 2017, 10:48 PM UTC

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #107

Johnny555 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it has anything to do with cashier wages, and more to do with customer perception. Kiosks are already cheaper than people. With minimum wage at $7.25/hour, and a Kiosk being able to replace 2+ shifts (16 hour days 7 days a week), that's $30K/year in savings, which would more than pay for a kiosk and maintenance. Developing the software to run them isn't free, but spreading $15M in development costs amon…

> But many customers would balk at having to order at a kiosk, so McDonalds will still hire humans. A lot of locations around me have both kiosks and staffed registers. I used the kiosk once and thought it was annoying to work through. If you have a simple order like "A medium #3", then its an order of magnitude faster to order through a person. On the other hand, if you like to customize your burger, or order a seve…

Post by daniel-cussen » Tue, Oct 10, 2017, 10:50 PM UTC

tyingq wrote: post #115

stefan8r wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is Stefan, from Starsky Robotics. I hear this all the time, and honestly in many cases a truck is the transportation of last resort. If you need 5 shipping containers of goods going from A->B all arriving at Time X; it's probably going by train. An issue with rail (as pointed out by others) is how to haul the freight from the rail head (rail yard) to the end warehouses, and the extra time it takes to have goods…

>As far as wear and tear on the highway: that's what weigh stations are for. That doesn't create a system where trucks pay taxes roughly proportional to the damage they do.