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> Once the driver is gone from autonomy, these fleets are going to be dirt cheap to operate. What gives you the impression that human drivers are such a large
by vonmoltke 9y ago
> Once the driver is gone from autonomy, these fleets are going to be dirt cheap to operate.
What gives you the impression that human drivers are such a large part of the costs now?
- nkurz 9y agoI don't know whether it counts as "such a large part of the costs", but at least in the US it does appear that wages and fuel are about equal as the two major costs: While fuel costs were historically the largest share of total cost, driver wages surpassed fuel as the largest share at 31 percent of total cost in 2015, and fuel now accounts for 25 percent – its lowest share since the inception of this study. Fuel was followed by equipment lease or purchase payments at 14 percent, with repair and maintenance, insurance premiums, permits and license, tires, toll costs, and driver benefits each representing 10 percent or less of average total marginal costs. http://atri-online.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ATRI-Operational-Costs-of-Trucking-2016-09-2016.pdf http://atri-online.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ATRI-Opera... Tables 10, 11, and 12 show a more exact breakdown. If all else remained the same, removing the driver would appear to reduce total costs by 40% (30% wages plus 10% benefits). So unless the electricity is much cheaper than diesel it won't be "dirt cheap", but certainly would be a significant reduction.
- TheReveller 9y agoReducing costs has a large effect on profits. If your profit margin is 5% then reducing costs by 10% triples your margin.
- eru 9y agoRemoving the driver will also help with capital costs: trucks running 24/7 can spread those out over more hours.
- marcosdumay 9y agoNot if those trucks must stay most of their time parked for charging.