4 ms·

A truck driver's job is more than, uh, driving the truck. Inspection of the cargo and the conditions of the truck are things unlikely to be automated any time s

A truck driver's job is more than, uh, driving the truck. Inspection of the cargo and the conditions of the truck are things unlikely to be automated any time soon even if feasible (there will be regulation resistance at the very least). Yard maneuvers too, or you would have seen fully automated airport ground traffic management by now. The job would pay less, not sure by how much, but my take is that the job will not go away entirely. In fact there might be more drivers hired with each driver serving fewer hours per week. Disclaimer: I am waiting for my CDL Class-A test ;)

xxpor 6y ago
I think that's what OP was basically saying though. All of the 'local' jobs (driving in a yard, dropping off trailers at customer warehouses, inspecting cargo, etc) will stick around. The bulk 'driving across the country' jobs might start to go away. So I'm imagining a truck driver, who lives in NJ, will still pick up a container at the Port of Elizabeth, do their inspection, load the container on the truck, and drive it out of the port. They'll get as far as the entrance to the NJ Turnpike, and then set the truck up for autonomous driving all the way to Nebraska on I-80. The truck drives to Nebraska, where it's headed to a warehouse. At the exit from the highway, a new driver will be waiting to hop in. He'll then drive it the rest of the way. In between, gas stations will have full service again for diesel. There will be some way to automatically charge the truck for fuel.
sailfast 6y ago
Right. There will be fewer jobs that will be more commoditized, therefore driving down wages and reducing hours so the outcome of that CDL may not pay as much as it otherwise would with human drivers. Companies aren’t just going autonomous for safety benefits - they want labor gone, which is where the real costs are these days.

xxpor 6y ago

I think that's what OP was basically saying though. All of the 'local' jobs (driving in a yard, dropping off trailers at customer warehouses, inspecting cargo, etc) will stick around. The bulk 'driving across the country' jobs might start to go away. So I'm imagining a truck driver, who lives in NJ, will still pick up a container at the Port of Elizabeth, do their inspection, load the container on the truck, and drive it out of the port. They'll get as far as the entrance to the NJ Turnpike, and then set the truck up for autonomous driving all the way to Nebraska on I-80. The truck drives to Nebraska, where it's headed to a warehouse. At the exit from the highway, a new driver will be waiting to hop in. He'll then drive it the rest of the way. In between, gas stations will have full service again for diesel. There will be some way to automatically charge the truck for fuel.

sailfast 6y ago

Right. There will be fewer jobs that will be more commoditized, therefore driving down wages and reducing hours so the outcome of that CDL may not pay as much as it otherwise would with human drivers. Companies aren’t just going autonomous for safety benefits - they want labor gone, which is where the real costs are these days.