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My guess is that the "death of trucking" will come in two parts. The part they say is 'hard' - is definitely a hard nut to crack - but maybe only a few percent
by goldcd 7y ago
My guess is that the "death of trucking" will come in two parts.
The part they say is 'hard' - is definitely a hard nut to crack - but maybe only a few percentage of the time they spend trucking.
The "endless trips down thousands of miles of interstate, whilst remaining alert" - well that definitely sounds like something robots could do better right now.
If I were "Lord of all truckers", I'd be negotiating right now. Build some idiot-robot-proof lots near major cities that their new robot overlords could drop off/pick up from, and then focus on just the difficult short trips from these lots to drop-off/pick-up points. Nobody else seems to be working on building these hubs, and truckers themselves could send a day working to/fro and then sleep in their own beds.
- Spooky23 7y agoTruckers are fucked because of motor carrier regulations that were changed to bust unions in the 80s. There’s no organization going to happen because distance trucking operates from labor hostile states. That said, the automation story is overplayed. Trains are the threat to trucking as fuel goes up.
- asaph 7y agoWhat about electric trucks?
- generatorguy 7y agoAlmost like a railway?
- dx034 7y agoYou need a lot of cargo heading into the same direction for railways to work. Without a direct connection it's still cheaper but much slower than rail. Automated truck "trains" could work well for much less volume, i.e. 3-5 trucks going between two cities. Fedex and UPS would be well suited to that, they can easily pool a few trucks that have 95%+ route overlap and drive roughly at the same time.