The driverless truck is coming, and it’s going to automate millions of jobs • Hacker News Board

Re: The driverless truck is coming, and it’s going to automate millions of jobs

#271

Post by celticninja » Tue, Apr 26, 2016, 1:28 PM UTC

vgoh1 wrote: post #233

ilamont wrote: post #218

The demonstration in Europe shows that driverless trucking is right around the corner. The primary remaining barriers are regulatory. What about the roads themselves? I'm curious how an autonomous truck will handle a snow-covered highway, fog, potholes, and tight corners caused by narrow roads, bad parking, snow banks, etc. This is a way of life where I live (Boston area). The article about the Russian driverless van…

One accident might set back consumer driving for 50 years, but not commercial. The safety record simply needs to be much better than human drivers, which shouldn't be too hard, because one driver is already taken out of the equation. And there are billions upon billions to be saved, in our corporatocracy of the USA, it WILL happen. Bad roads shouldn't be too much of a problem, they can just use humans on the bad road…

I agree re: the rock/bag, err on the side of caution because any potential delays will be dwarfed by the overall savings of autonomous vehicles and lead to safer driving for other road users.

Re: The driverless truck is coming, and it’s going to automate millions of jobs

#272

Post by braythwayt » Tue, Apr 26, 2016, 1:28 PM UTC

danarlow wrote: post #132

braythwayt wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But here’s the question: Do these ‘last mile’ drivers sit in the cab? Or operate the rigs from thousands of miles away, like drone pilots, with displays showing 360 degrees around the rig and access to all of its sensors? Last mile driving may not look anything like truck driving.

Definitely can't remotely operate a 40 ton truck. Wireless network latency is a bit high even under ideal conditions, and latency spikes could easily cause disastrous accidents.

I don’t think you’re going to be “driving” such trucks. I think you’ll be making decisions. For example, when you reach a yard and need to back it into a loading bay, you may draw a path on a map of the yard, taking into account obstacles that are there at that moment. The truck will handle the turning, backing up, and so on.

Likewise, you may be monitoring city traffic and choosing alternate routes. But you won’t be driving with one foot on the brake pedal and your hands on the steering wheel.

Re: The driverless truck is coming, and it’s going to automate millions of jobs

#273

Post by cdnsteve » Tue, Apr 26, 2016, 1:29 PM UTC

Society will trust these automakers with autonomous vehicles? They can't even get their gas milage right.

- Mitsubishi Motors: We did false mileage tests since 1991

- Toyota Unintended Acceleration and the Big Bowl of “Spaghetti” Code

- Volkswagon emissions scandal

On and on and on...

Re: The driverless truck is coming, and it’s going to automate millions of jobs

#274

Post by Zigurd » Tue, Apr 26, 2016, 1:29 PM UTC

ilamont wrote: post #218

The demonstration in Europe shows that driverless trucking is right around the corner. The primary remaining barriers are regulatory. What about the roads themselves? I'm curious how an autonomous truck will handle a snow-covered highway, fog, potholes, and tight corners caused by narrow roads, bad parking, snow banks, etc. This is a way of life where I live (Boston area). The article about the Russian driverless van…

It is likely that fewer cyclists will get crushed like a grape under a semi that's instrumented for self-driving. If it works better, the technology will be launched somewhere in the world, and economic pressure will spread it.

Re: The driverless truck is coming, and it’s going to automate millions of jobs

#275

Post by celticninja » Tue, Apr 26, 2016, 1:30 PM UTC

bsharitt wrote: post #269

I hope they remember to write an algorithm so that when approaching a hill and there are two lanes each direction, two trucks will pull up beside each and race up the hill each at 55MPH despite the speed limit being 70MPH.

no, one of them has to go at 55.25MPH to make it look like they have a chance of overtaking before the top.

Re: The driverless truck is coming, and it’s going to automate millions of jobs

#276

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Apr 26, 2016, 1:31 PM UTC

Fuzzwah wrote: post #136

danarlow wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely can't remotely operate a 40 ton truck. Wireless network latency is a bit high even under ideal conditions, and latency spikes could easily cause disastrous accidents.

You can continue to rely on the automated systems for avoiding collisions. The intelligence is more with dealing with the decisions that the AI can't make.

[deleted]

Re: The driverless truck is coming, and it’s going to automate millions of jobs

#277

Post by dmalvarado » Tue, Apr 26, 2016, 1:31 PM UTC

ilamont wrote: post #218

The demonstration in Europe shows that driverless trucking is right around the corner. The primary remaining barriers are regulatory. What about the roads themselves? I'm curious how an autonomous truck will handle a snow-covered highway, fog, potholes, and tight corners caused by narrow roads, bad parking, snow banks, etc. This is a way of life where I live (Boston area). The article about the Russian driverless van…

I can see many road hazards being handled much better by a computer. Depending on what technology is used, fog could have no effect on what the truck can perceive. Also keep in mind that the trucks could talk to one another, notifying each other of road hazards/debris on segments of road.

Re: The driverless truck is coming, and it’s going to automate millions of jobs

#278

Post by sickbeard » Tue, Apr 26, 2016, 1:32 PM UTC

One would think that ships would be the first to be automated but alas they are not.. why? theft. Would you trust your driverless truck not to get hacked and stolen? would you trust sensitive and expensive equipment to be moved by driverless trucks? There's still a long way to go.

Re: The driverless truck is coming, and it’s going to automate millions of jobs

#279

Post by braythwayt » Tue, Apr 26, 2016, 1:32 PM UTC

ktRolster wrote: post #182

braythwayt wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But here’s the question: Do these ‘last mile’ drivers sit in the cab? Or operate the rigs from thousands of miles away, like drone pilots, with displays showing 360 degrees around the rig and access to all of its sensors? Last mile driving may not look anything like truck driving.

>Or operate the rigs from thousands of miles away, like drone pilots, with displays showing 360 degrees around the rig and access to all of its sensors? Any driverless technology that requires a constant wireless internet connection is a non-starter.

As I said elsewhere, I do not think a constant wireless connection will be an issue, because I don’t think you’ll be operating the truck remotely the way a hobbyist operates an RC car. The truck will brake when a car, pedestrian, or bicycle cuts it off, and do it better than you could.

You are there to route it around traffic jams, talk to the foreman on site, and choose the loading bay.

Even if you had a reliable high-bandwidth/low-latency connection, the truck will be better than you are at handling things that requires instant response. You are there to make decisions.

Re: The driverless truck is coming, and it’s going to automate millions of jobs

#280

Post by massysett » Tue, Apr 26, 2016, 1:33 PM UTC

ilamont wrote: post #218

The demonstration in Europe shows that driverless trucking is right around the corner. The primary remaining barriers are regulatory. What about the roads themselves? I'm curious how an autonomous truck will handle a snow-covered highway, fog, potholes, and tight corners caused by narrow roads, bad parking, snow banks, etc. This is a way of life where I live (Boston area). The article about the Russian driverless van…

"What about the roads themselves? I'm curious how an autonomous truck will handle a snow-covered highway, fog, potholes, and tight corners caused by narrow roads, bad parking, snow banks, etc."

It won't; at least, it won't need to handle narrow roads, bad parking, snow banks, etc.

The autonomous truck need not drive the whole route that a human driver does now. Drive down the Ohio Turnpike and you will see numerous parking lots with UPS trailers parked in them, right alongside the highway. All you need is an autonomous truck to drive the trailer down the turnpike. Humans can drop it off at the turnpike and pick it up. It could deal with typical weather events, or just look at the weather forecast and stay parked if the weather looks like it will be bad.

The highways are cleared shoulder to shoulder a day or two after most snows so the autonomous trucks wouldn't lose too much yearly time due to bad weather. You could keep humans around to drive the more urgent shipments.