4 ms·

I think you underestimate the ability of the trucking industry to poorly maintain automatic pilot systems.

by Tloewald 10y ago

beat 10y ago
Poorly maintained autopilots would still be safer than poorly maintained drivers.
- mejari 10y ago
  But at least if it's a poorly maintained driver the company can blame the driver and not change their practices.
  - Kadin 10y ago
    They can still use the owner-operator model if they want to, and have the vehicles owned by a different entity than the freight company. But in all seriousness, although I understand that people like to out-cynic each other, over the road trucks seem to be pretty well-maintained. Whether that's the result of safety regulations and enforcement or simple economics (a broken-down truck is not a moneymaking truck) is left as an exercise to the reader, but either way you do not see a lot of barely-making-it or broken-down commercial OTR trucks on the road. That level of poor maintenance is generally the province of private vehicles.
    - stormcrowsx 10y ago
      I'd hope a poorly maintained automated truck which crashes would result in extremely heavy fines and lawsuits, to the point where it could seriously threaten to put a trucking company out of business. Make it uneconomical not to maintain the trucks.
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  Drivers maintain themselves, so this is pretty much purely maintained drivers vs. little-to-not maintained autopilots. That said, I agree there's plenty of incentives for the trucking companies to go the autopilot route.
  - jdietrich 10y ago
    >Drivers maintain themselves Fatigue and sleep deprivation are chronic problems in the trucking industry. Clearly, many drivers are unable or unwilling to maintain themselves. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/17/business/truckers-resist-rules-on-sleep-despite-risks-of-drowsy-driving.html https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/17/business/truckers-resist-... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/congress-made-trucking-deadlier_us_56fd6f92e4b0a06d58052ee8 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/congress-made-trucking-d...
    - TeMPOraL 10y ago
      I agree. My point being, trucking companies don't have to maintain drivers, they push this onto drivers themselves. So if they simply s/driver/autopilot/, they'll have to start maintaining.
mikeryan 10y ago
The trucking "industry" is probably pretty okay with losing drivers - its the only class of employees affected and they've had a shortage of qualified drivers for years [1]. Heck there will be a whole new class of higher paid mechanics and technicians maintaining the auto-pilot systems. There will also undoubtedly be a higher bar government mandated maintenance for self driving trucks. They're almost incentivized for this change. [1] http://cerasis.com/2016/05/03/driver-shortage/ http://cerasis.com/2016/05/03/driver-shortage/

I think you underestimate the ability of the trucking industry to poorly maintain automatic pilot systems.

beat 10y ago

Poorly maintained autopilots would still be safer than poorly maintained drivers.

mejari 10y ago
But at least if it's a poorly maintained driver the company can blame the driver and not change their practices.
- Kadin 10y ago
  They can still use the owner-operator model if they want to, and have the vehicles owned by a different entity than the freight company. But in all seriousness, although I understand that people like to out-cynic each other, over the road trucks seem to be pretty well-maintained. Whether that's the result of safety regulations and enforcement or simple economics (a broken-down truck is not a moneymaking truck) is left as an exercise to the reader, but either way you do not see a lot of barely-making-it or broken-down commercial OTR trucks on the road. That level of poor maintenance is generally the province of private vehicles.
  - stormcrowsx 10y ago
    I'd hope a poorly maintained automated truck which crashes would result in extremely heavy fines and lawsuits, to the point where it could seriously threaten to put a trucking company out of business. Make it uneconomical not to maintain the trucks.
TeMPOraL 10y ago
Drivers maintain themselves, so this is pretty much purely maintained drivers vs. little-to-not maintained autopilots. That said, I agree there's plenty of incentives for the trucking companies to go the autopilot route.
- jdietrich 10y ago
  >Drivers maintain themselves Fatigue and sleep deprivation are chronic problems in the trucking industry. Clearly, many drivers are unable or unwilling to maintain themselves. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/17/business/truckers-resist-rules-on-sleep-despite-risks-of-drowsy-driving.html https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/17/business/truckers-resist-... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/congress-made-trucking-deadlier_us_56fd6f92e4b0a06d58052ee8 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/congress-made-trucking-d...
  - TeMPOraL 10y ago
    I agree. My point being, trucking companies don't have to maintain drivers, they push this onto drivers themselves. So if they simply s/driver/autopilot/, they'll have to start maintaining.

mikeryan 10y ago

The trucking "industry" is probably pretty okay with losing drivers - its the only class of employees affected and they've had a shortage of qualified drivers for years [1]. Heck there will be a whole new class of higher paid mechanics and technicians maintaining the auto-pilot systems. There will also undoubtedly be a higher bar government mandated maintenance for self driving trucks. They're almost incentivized for this change. [1] http://cerasis.com/2016/05/03/driver-shortage/ http://cerasis.com/2016/05/03/driver-shortage/