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I think the challenge of remotely controlling a truck is not the technology. There are lots of videos on youtube of guys who convert cars to remote controls in

by jbob2000 9y ago

I think the challenge of remotely controlling a truck is not the technology. There are lots of videos on youtube of guys who convert cars to remote controls in their garage. Mythbusters did it regularly for some of the car-related myths. (I do not mean to belittle the work of Starsky Robotics, just noting that they're "formally" doing stuff that people have already been doing for a while now). The challenge is; who changes a flat tire? who inspects the vehicle after it's been parked? who hooks up all the break lines to the trailer? who gasses it up? who will check that the idiots on the dock loaded it correctly? who will smell the burning brakes on a steep incline? how will stranded trucks be rescued? The driver is kind of like a guardian of the freight, always looking out for the delivery's best interest, no matter the issue. It's waaayy more of a business process and parternship problem than a technology one. You're going to have to negotiate contracts with tow truck companies and service stations across the continent. You're going to have to figure out some way to cross borders without a truck driver. You're going to have to hire all sorts of operations staff to manage the trucks. I'm actually much more curious about this aspect of the problem than the technology problem. I am tempted to think it takes more people to manage remote trucks than just having a driver.

stefan8r 9y ago
That's a fair thought when you compare unmanned trucks to O/Os, who really do bust their butts to make sure the freight gets there. The use case that we're solving to is the big company driver who, at the first sight of trouble, calls dispatch to send out a tow truck so that they don't waste precious hours of service. The folks who use the full-service gas stations to fill up. A lot of long-haul truck driving has already been setup to limit the participation of the on-board driver. We're just taking that a step further.
- jbob2000 9y ago
  Thanks for the response! Admittedly, I haven't had much exposure to long-haul trucking. My uncle did short hauls around the province, so my comments come from hearing his experiences over the years.
keithnz 9y ago
I think things would adapt to the automation, everything about trucks / freight is built for humans. If trucks could hand off their freight from one truck to another automatically that would help a lot. Smaller containers more trucks could help a lot. I would think the managment of trucks / freight can be done as a service. Tow trucks could be automated. Everything about freight/trucks would look different once it hits a tipping point. But I think it's going to take a while to get there.
ghthor 9y ago
You could just pay and operator to be on site and manage all that. They'd even have better engagement and awareness of 9ther issues if they didn't have to drive the vehicle, just observe and handle any issues. One of the issues I have with all the technological unemployment discussion. The ONLY reason automation will destroy jobs is due to greed. Good companies will now utilize there newly freed up and empower3d employees to 10x there productivity.

stefan8r 9y ago

That's a fair thought when you compare unmanned trucks to O/Os, who really do bust their butts to make sure the freight gets there. The use case that we're solving to is the big company driver who, at the first sight of trouble, calls dispatch to send out a tow truck so that they don't waste precious hours of service. The folks who use the full-service gas stations to fill up. A lot of long-haul truck driving has already been setup to limit the participation of the on-board driver. We're just taking that a step further.

jbob2000 9y ago
Thanks for the response! Admittedly, I haven't had much exposure to long-haul trucking. My uncle did short hauls around the province, so my comments come from hearing his experiences over the years.

keithnz 9y ago

I think things would adapt to the automation, everything about trucks / freight is built for humans. If trucks could hand off their freight from one truck to another automatically that would help a lot. Smaller containers more trucks could help a lot. I would think the managment of trucks / freight can be done as a service. Tow trucks could be automated. Everything about freight/trucks would look different once it hits a tipping point. But I think it's going to take a while to get there.

ghthor 9y ago

You could just pay and operator to be on site and manage all that. They'd even have better engagement and awareness of 9ther issues if they didn't have to drive the vehicle, just observe and handle any issues. One of the issues I have with all the technological unemployment discussion. The ONLY reason automation will destroy jobs is due to greed. Good companies will now utilize there newly freed up and empower3d employees to 10x there productivity.