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

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

#341

Post by Al-Khwarizmi »

intended wrote: post #316
karmacondon wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The company making the vehicles will be responsible for any damages, and paying a massive insurance premium I'm sure. There will be legal consequences for gross negligence and anyone damaged will be made whole. I don't see how that's any different than the system we have now. And the emotional appeals cut both ways. How long before the parents of a child killed by a drunk or sleeping truck driver say "Why was he driv…

That's partly an effect of being on HN. In non tech circles - the vast majority of the world - people are pretty famous for measuring risks by perception and not statistics. The idea of a robotic truck taking away jobs while also being a risk to life? America would take up mass transit before it buys into that system. Man I can see the headlines and political/ emotional arguments now. Godless SV tech priests rob Amer…

Maybe the American reaction will be like that, but my feeling is that if that happens, then China will take advantage of it by pushing automated driving while ignoring the emotional arguments (authoritarian governments have their advantages in this kind of things...)

And then, the rest of the world will have to follow so as not to be left behind an industrial revolution...

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

#342

Post by spacemanmatt »

Zigurd wrote: post #304
nkassis wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the opposite effect would happen and it would be safer for cyclists. There are already cars being equipped with pedestrian and cyclist detection. Sensors can see all around the truck vs the driver view having many deadspots. The computer could be forced to slow down or use safe passing distance while drivers have the free will to break those laws. Also the computer probably doesn't have a bias against cyclist…

I'm agreeing with you: Fewer cyclists would die due to automated trucks.

Cyclists tend to avoid freeways.

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

#343

Post by kailuowang »

spacemanmatt wrote: post #339

I think land-pirates will start taking on driverless vehicles when they're common and easy to find. A lot changes when harming a fellow human is no longer on the table.

Or, even better, Robot land-pirates.

There are many many things out there that you can steal without harming a fellow human now.

When robots are doing all the tedious jobs for humans, you either live for free or work for fun. Not much need for breaking the law (unless that's just fun).

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

#344

Post by logn »

FussyZeus wrote: post #141
Homunculiheaded wrote: post #103

A very useful visual to add next to this is "The Most Common Job In Every State"[0] map from NPR's Planet Money. As soon as I was aware of the research in autonomous driving I was pretty confident trucking would be the first industry hit. Until I saw that map I had no sense of how major of a disruption this could be. [0] http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/02/05/382664837/map-t...

Disruption nothing, this is going to be an economic apocalypse for huge swathes of the country. We've never seen an automation wave like this one. It's exciting times to be alive for sure but I'm also legitimately worried if we're going to be able to handle it as a society, if anything is going to tip us into needing basic income, this could be a serious contender. It's not even just the trucking, it's truck stops, h…

Social Security for everyone.

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

#345

Post by wainstead »

HorizonXP wrote: post #2

My father is a truck driver. He made his living driving vehicles and doing heavy lifting and menial work. Truck driving is just the latest evolution in his "career" and I'm ever grateful to him for battering his body in various ways to ensure I had every opportunity available to myself. We talk a lot about his job. It's not fun. He works long hours, a lot of it is mundane driving, and he sits idle a lot of the time.…

> I think people will be less comfortable with the idea that the truck next to them has no human in it, and could experience some kind of glitch with catastrophic consequences.

Unless the truck somehow acknowledges adjacent vehicles in a comforting way. I don't know what that would look like, but it would probably be coupled with advertising and data collection (no law against filming all the cars around you and what they are doing).

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

#346

Post by unprepare »

a3n wrote: post #308
unprepare wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>or get to the exit it needs to reach Often while driving i get the feeling im the only one who realizes if you miss an exit, you can just get off at the next exit... Going your preferred route is never more important than driving safely. People never seem to consider this when they cross several lanes of traffic to make a turn or get off at an exit.

Exactly. I think this is one of the most important things I've taught my teenage son about driving.

Louis CK does a bit about this thats pretty funny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQSRPMFDTSs - only 1 minute long, no swearing

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

#347

Post by mschuster91 »

danmaz74 wrote: post #193
mschuster91 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For long haul, you can just use trains. RoLa (Rollende Landstraße) as we call this in Germany, or just transporting the flatbed carriages, requires a SHITLOAD of manual work, unlike containers where you don't even need people on the locos in the yard anymore. Not to mention that long-haul-via-rail is only viable in the US... in Europe, it virtually doesn't exist anymore. It just isn't profitable due to various exte…

> RoLa (Rollende Landstraße) as we call this in Germany, or just transporting the flatbed carriages, requires a SHITLOAD of manual work, unlike containers where you don't even need people on the locos in the yard anymore. Isn't using containers much more efficient anyway, instead of moving the whole truck?

> Isn't using containers much more efficient anyway, instead of moving the whole truck?

The core problem is that freight companies in Europe standardized on the Euro Pool Palette (EPAL) but ISO containers worldwide use the non-metric US measurement system - thus leading to waste of space and potential safety issues (sliding palettes due to slack space on the floor).

Trucks, however, are fitted to the metric system and can safely transport EPALs, so you've got next to no alternative.

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

#348

Post by Retric »

acveilleux wrote: post #327
madeofpalk wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would it still be an advanced net if you had humans in the trucks as a 'backup', with the autonomous driving doing 90% of the 'boring' driving down the highways? Humans would still drive the last mile (ha!). Would that be significant safer and more efficient to make it worthwhile? If you limit autonomous driving to the main freight routes on the highway, I can see self driving vehicles happening a lot sooner than I p…

They started truck automation in mining and container terminals in ports. Areas with no other traffic and the possibility of active guidance (beacons along/embedded in the route and so on.) Highways are the next obvious use. I could see automated trucks driving down the transcanadian highway for example or similar long interstate stretch. I gotta say though, if we're going that way, why not go intermodal, add a RR ri…

Roads are really expensive. Adding rail lines is cheaper to build and operate so a dedicated automated truck lane seems like a poor idea. If anything building 100+ MPH rail for long trips like this seems like a great investment until you adjust for actual traffic levels.

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

#349

Post by TheLogothete »

zanny wrote: post #323
TheLogothete wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, people will just slack because they can buy bread. We already saw this in the soviet block. The human brain works on incentives. Remove the incentive the human is in free fall.

I have a hard time believing under any economic system Americans would be content with bread when their neighbor is eating steak. That is the whole basis of the consumerist culture that powers a good portion of American capitalism. And the Soviets are a terrible example. Centrally planned economies of course destroy all individual incentives to accel or improve. But if you seriously think the only way economic system…

>And the Soviets are a terrible example. Centrally planned economies of course destroy all individual incentives to accel or improve.

Which economy is not centrally planned? We have more and more central planning every year.

The Soviet Union did not collapse because of central planning. It collapsed because everyone was lazy and stole shit from the factories. No productivity, no quality. People were drinking at work and were utterly incompetent. This is what happens when you remove the incentives for improvement. If you guarantee people they can eat, no questions asked, they just stop caring after 10-15 years. They just forget to care, this is the new reality for them. No repercussions, why even bother. Who are you to tell me to work harder? Why should I work at all? I am ENTITLED to your money so I can buy food.

And when the proletariat smells they can get other people's money, will they stop at just a pinch, so they can buy the very basic necessities? Or will they go and protest and push for more money in 15 years? Those fucking 1%-ers! They are not better than me. Who said they are better than me? Why should they have all this money. I need to feed my kids! And for booze.

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

#350

Post by nenreme »

wccrawford wrote: post #311
illumin8 wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article says so. The plan is to have human drivers in each city drive the "last mile" from the interstate freeway exit to the destination. The current autonomous technology is only effective on freeways, so having human drivers drop the truck off at the interstate, and pick it up again solves the temporary problem of not having 100% effective automation of city driving/trailer parking.

If I were younger and not married, I could totally see taking a job as a trucker and guiding it on and off the highway, and doing coding or whatever in the meantime. It'd be a chance to go different places and have some adventure, while continuing to do another job that I love. It's not unlike many college kids taking a job as a security guard and "watching monitors" while doing their homework, etc. (Another thing th…

You don't get the point. You won't be traveling inside that truck. You will only drive trucks in and out of your city.
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