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> AB InBev said it could save $50 million a year in the U.S. if the beverage giant could deploy autonomous trucks across its distribution network. Sweet words

> AB InBev said it could save $50 million a year in the U.S. if the beverage giant could deploy autonomous trucks across its distribution network. Sweet words for AB InBev shareholders, not so sweet for the obsoleted truckers though. Obviously this technology is inevitable, but I think that the authors of such technologies should also come up with political proposals on what to do with the displaced people. Politicians should start acting now and figure out how to respond to these changes. And that should be done on a global scale, because technology is very fast to spread across borders.

TulliusCicero 10y ago
> Obviously this technology is inevitable, but I think that the authors of such technologies should also come up with political proposals on what to do with the displaced people. Why would you want computer scientists and engineers doing that? Do you think they have some special expertise in labor politics too? What would help here is the same thing that would help in other industries that have gone down the tubes: temporary monetary support ala unemployment insurance, retraining programs, maybe moving stipends to relocate to areas with more jobs. Basically, social safety nets.
- dboreham 10y ago
  No need to worry so much because this is all a big PR bubble. We will have self-driving lawyers long before we have real viable self-driving vehicles.
  - TulliusCicero 10y ago
    Disagree. Yes, there's still a lot of work to do before we have real viable self-driving vehicles, and I think Tesla's goal of end of 2017 is unrealistic, but there's so much money and effort behind it now from so many different companies, personally I'd be shocked if we didn't have self-driving cars by 2025.
    - greedo 10y ago
      We've spent a lot of money and effort on fusion energy, without succeeding in creating a reliable, cost-effective energy source.
      - TulliusCicero 10y ago
        Yes, but for self-driving cars, the problem seems more surmountable. We already have cars that can drive in real traffic without intervention a large % of the time. There are plenty of edge cases, but they don't seem insurmountable.
        greedo 10y ago
        "... without intervention a large % of the time." You could drive a semi (pun-intended) through that caveat. Driving is all about edge cases; bad weather, bad roads, bad visibility, poor signage, poorly maintained cars.
  - CoryG89 10y ago
    I wouldn't be so sure. Personally, I think trailer trucks will be the first things that go driverless. Sure, we may be 10 years away still, but that's not very long. There will likely be just as many (or more) truckers in 10 years as there are now. Though I think the fears of job displacement are still (a bit) overblown. This type of thing won't happen overnight. It will start with a few companies, some drivers will move to other companies, others will get different jobs. Truck companies could earn some brownie points with the public by offering to train their old drivers to work on the autonomous trucks.
  - ourmandave 10y ago
    We will have self-driving lawyers long before we have real viable self-driving vehicles. If I'm ever in an accident with a self-driving truck, they'll probably stack the jury with internet-enabled toasters. =(
berberous 10y ago
Has anyone ever discussed taxing computer labor -- e.g. companies can pay (via tax) AIs to drive trucks at 80% of a human wage. Companies get safer drivers, save costs, and the government gets a cash influx to help all the new jobless truck drivers.
- haliax 10y ago
  Interesting proposal. I think it'd take a lot of fine tuning to work as desired though. You'd have to make the tax low enough to still retain a significant benefit for the company, but high enough to aid in providing a social safety net. You'd also have to ensure that it's hard to get around this legislation without making it so broadly applicable that AI research and development are penalized.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
vivekv 10y ago
Truckers become car hackers
grecy 10y ago
> I think that the authors of such technologies should also come up with political proposals on what to do with the displaced people. Did the inventors of automobiles have to deal with all the farriers and people who tend to horses? ...or when milkmen were obsolete? ...or when switchboard operators were obsolete? ...or when telegram operators were obsolete? (I could go on all week) History is full of instances where certain job roles are no longer needed and are obsoleted. This is a good thing, it means we're moving forward and progressing. I wish everyone wasn't so afraid of jobs, but that's the consequence of being up to your eyeballs in debt.
- delegate 10y ago
  History is full of examples, but there is no time in History when the world was as complex and populated - and armed - as it is today. Not even close. We're talking about tens of millions of people potentially loosing their jobs worldwide due to such 'progress'. This can lead to uprisings, revolutions and bloodshed - a lot of suffering - which can be prevented if the transition is well planned. 'Global reach' cuts both ways, both through positive and negative consequences.
  - ska 10y ago
    Best to avoid the narcissism of the present when you can. The industrial revolution was far more disruptive than what we are currently experiencing, albeit paced slower. The idea that way can't learn nearly everything we need to know about current change from observing the past strikes me as very naive. People, after all, are just people.
- ska 10y ago
  The automobile inventors didn't have to deal with it, but somebody did. It's unfortunate that Smith was particularly weak in this area (or rather, that so many people have followed him in hand waving about it) but the consequences of displaced jobs is something that a society absolutely, unavoidably, has to deal with. You only get to choose if you approach it with a realistic plan, or not.
  - 10y ago
fitchjo 10y ago
Considering the aging truck force[1], the impact of automated trucks may not be as big of an impact as what most are estimating. [1] https://blog.transplace.com/2015/02/an-aging-truck-driver-work-force-could-mean-greater-shortages-ahead/ https://blog.transplace.com/2015/02/an-aging-truck-driver-wo...
refurb 10y ago
AB InBev annual revenue....$43.6B in 2015. Savings from autonomous trucks... 0.11% of revenue. I'm not sure what the margins for InBev's products look like, probably pretty decent, so it's not a low margin business. 0.11% of revenue is pretty good in terms of cutting costs, but I would have thought it would be bigger.

TulliusCicero 10y ago

> Obviously this technology is inevitable, but I think that the authors of such technologies should also come up with political proposals on what to do with the displaced people. Why would you want computer scientists and engineers doing that? Do you think they have some special expertise in labor politics too? What would help here is the same thing that would help in other industries that have gone down the tubes: temporary monetary support ala unemployment insurance, retraining programs, maybe moving stipends to relocate to areas with more jobs. Basically, social safety nets.

dboreham 10y ago
No need to worry so much because this is all a big PR bubble. We will have self-driving lawyers long before we have real viable self-driving vehicles.
- TulliusCicero 10y ago
  Disagree. Yes, there's still a lot of work to do before we have real viable self-driving vehicles, and I think Tesla's goal of end of 2017 is unrealistic, but there's so much money and effort behind it now from so many different companies, personally I'd be shocked if we didn't have self-driving cars by 2025.
  - greedo 10y ago
    We've spent a lot of money and effort on fusion energy, without succeeding in creating a reliable, cost-effective energy source.
    - TulliusCicero 10y ago
      Yes, but for self-driving cars, the problem seems more surmountable. We already have cars that can drive in real traffic without intervention a large % of the time. There are plenty of edge cases, but they don't seem insurmountable.
      - greedo 10y ago
        "... without intervention a large % of the time." You could drive a semi (pun-intended) through that caveat. Driving is all about edge cases; bad weather, bad roads, bad visibility, poor signage, poorly maintained cars.
- CoryG89 10y ago
  I wouldn't be so sure. Personally, I think trailer trucks will be the first things that go driverless. Sure, we may be 10 years away still, but that's not very long. There will likely be just as many (or more) truckers in 10 years as there are now. Though I think the fears of job displacement are still (a bit) overblown. This type of thing won't happen overnight. It will start with a few companies, some drivers will move to other companies, others will get different jobs. Truck companies could earn some brownie points with the public by offering to train their old drivers to work on the autonomous trucks.
- ourmandave 10y ago
  We will have self-driving lawyers long before we have real viable self-driving vehicles. If I'm ever in an accident with a self-driving truck, they'll probably stack the jury with internet-enabled toasters. =(

berberous 10y ago

Has anyone ever discussed taxing computer labor -- e.g. companies can pay (via tax) AIs to drive trucks at 80% of a human wage. Companies get safer drivers, save costs, and the government gets a cash influx to help all the new jobless truck drivers.

haliax 10y ago
Interesting proposal. I think it'd take a lot of fine tuning to work as desired though. You'd have to make the tax low enough to still retain a significant benefit for the company, but high enough to aid in providing a social safety net. You'd also have to ensure that it's hard to get around this legislation without making it so broadly applicable that AI research and development are penalized.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

vivekv 10y ago

Truckers become car hackers

grecy 10y ago

> I think that the authors of such technologies should also come up with political proposals on what to do with the displaced people. Did the inventors of automobiles have to deal with all the farriers and people who tend to horses? ...or when milkmen were obsolete? ...or when switchboard operators were obsolete? ...or when telegram operators were obsolete? (I could go on all week) History is full of instances where certain job roles are no longer needed and are obsoleted. This is a good thing, it means we're moving forward and progressing. I wish everyone wasn't so afraid of jobs, but that's the consequence of being up to your eyeballs in debt.

delegate 10y ago
History is full of examples, but there is no time in History when the world was as complex and populated - and armed - as it is today. Not even close. We're talking about tens of millions of people potentially loosing their jobs worldwide due to such 'progress'. This can lead to uprisings, revolutions and bloodshed - a lot of suffering - which can be prevented if the transition is well planned. 'Global reach' cuts both ways, both through positive and negative consequences.
- ska 10y ago
  Best to avoid the narcissism of the present when you can. The industrial revolution was far more disruptive than what we are currently experiencing, albeit paced slower. The idea that way can't learn nearly everything we need to know about current change from observing the past strikes me as very naive. People, after all, are just people.
ska 10y ago
The automobile inventors didn't have to deal with it, but somebody did. It's unfortunate that Smith was particularly weak in this area (or rather, that so many people have followed him in hand waving about it) but the consequences of displaced jobs is something that a society absolutely, unavoidably, has to deal with. You only get to choose if you approach it with a realistic plan, or not.
- 10y ago

fitchjo 10y ago

Considering the aging truck force[1], the impact of automated trucks may not be as big of an impact as what most are estimating. [1] https://blog.transplace.com/2015/02/an-aging-truck-driver-work-force-could-mean-greater-shortages-ahead/ https://blog.transplace.com/2015/02/an-aging-truck-driver-wo...

refurb 10y ago

AB InBev annual revenue....$43.6B in 2015. Savings from autonomous trucks... 0.11% of revenue. I'm not sure what the margins for InBev's products look like, probably pretty decent, so it's not a low margin business. 0.11% of revenue is pretty good in terms of cutting costs, but I would have thought it would be bigger.