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Oh you sweet summer child. Truck drivers are among the first that will be completely automated away. The other thing to keep in mind, is that we automate task

Oh you sweet summer child. Truck drivers are among the first that will be completely automated away. The other thing to keep in mind, is that we automate tasks not jobs. The effect of this is that workers become much more productive, it is possible to do the same work with fewer people. One truck driver oversees a fleet of trucks remotely, ready to take over if needed. The good news is that these should be higher paying jobs than the original, because they are more productive and higher skilled.

pydry 6y ago
Whether it gets rolled out will depend on the level of liability self driving vehicle operators will face (or be able to avoid). Self driving cars as a concept could in theory be killed entirely by a few high profile crashes and a few successful prosecutions for criminal negligence. Im skeptical that the US legal/political system would kill it, though. The original automobiles were rendered "safe" by criminalizing jaywalking after all.
- willcipriano 6y ago
  I agree. Passenger spaceflight would be offered widely and more affordably in short order if you remove all liability from vendors for deaths and injury of passengers. That doesn't mean it's ready yet.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
enumjorge 6y ago
Unfortunately, it’s good news only for the driver who gets to manage the fleet, but bad news for the rest of the fleet’s drivers who are now unemployed.
johnathan23423 6y ago
Oh you sweet summer child. Take the snarkiness back to reddit please.
wpietri 6y ago
Agreed. I think the first step here is to automate the long-haul portion, which is pretty straightforward. You can then have manual drivers take over at the switchover to local streets, which require real skill for an 18-wheeler.
- momokoko 6y ago
  > which is pretty straightforward The problem is that trucks are one of the things that needs to be right essentially every time. If a truck is right 99.9% of the time it is doing considerably worse from a financial liability standpoint than a truck driver. One truck accident of any severity will incur liability expenses in the millions and often tens of millions of dollars. And with automated trucks there are no owner operators to externalize that liability to. Outsourcing truck driving via tele-driving on the other hand, seems incredibly likely if regulatory questions can be answered.
  - wpietri 6y ago
    It doesn't have to be right; it just has to fail safely and then wait for a driver to take over, which is a much easier problem. Waymo has been pioneering that approach for a while and it seems like it's working for them.
michaelbrave 6y ago
I have doubt that more productive and higher skilled == higher paying. True in some/many cases but our overall society is more productive than 50 years ago, wages haven't really reflected that.
AntiImperialist 6y ago
Little less snark, r-tard! No, there won't be a single person controlling a fleet of trucks on a highway. It's not tiny drones we're talking about. Huge trucks - on highways, where people are in their cars (driving or not). Won't happen. Not in a 100 years.

pydry 6y ago

Whether it gets rolled out will depend on the level of liability self driving vehicle operators will face (or be able to avoid). Self driving cars as a concept could in theory be killed entirely by a few high profile crashes and a few successful prosecutions for criminal negligence. Im skeptical that the US legal/political system would kill it, though. The original automobiles were rendered "safe" by criminalizing jaywalking after all.

willcipriano 6y ago
I agree. Passenger spaceflight would be offered widely and more affordably in short order if you remove all liability from vendors for deaths and injury of passengers. That doesn't mean it's ready yet.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

enumjorge 6y ago

Unfortunately, it’s good news only for the driver who gets to manage the fleet, but bad news for the rest of the fleet’s drivers who are now unemployed.

johnathan23423 6y ago

Oh you sweet summer child. Take the snarkiness back to reddit please.

wpietri 6y ago

Agreed. I think the first step here is to automate the long-haul portion, which is pretty straightforward. You can then have manual drivers take over at the switchover to local streets, which require real skill for an 18-wheeler.

momokoko 6y ago
> which is pretty straightforward The problem is that trucks are one of the things that needs to be right essentially every time. If a truck is right 99.9% of the time it is doing considerably worse from a financial liability standpoint than a truck driver. One truck accident of any severity will incur liability expenses in the millions and often tens of millions of dollars. And with automated trucks there are no owner operators to externalize that liability to. Outsourcing truck driving via tele-driving on the other hand, seems incredibly likely if regulatory questions can be answered.
- wpietri 6y ago
  It doesn't have to be right; it just has to fail safely and then wait for a driver to take over, which is a much easier problem. Waymo has been pioneering that approach for a while and it seems like it's working for them.

michaelbrave 6y ago

I have doubt that more productive and higher skilled == higher paying. True in some/many cases but our overall society is more productive than 50 years ago, wages haven't really reflected that.

AntiImperialist 6y ago

Little less snark, r-tard! No, there won't be a single person controlling a fleet of trucks on a highway. It's not tiny drones we're talking about. Huge trucks - on highways, where people are in their cars (driving or not). Won't happen. Not in a 100 years.