6 ms·

I don't follow this space, so forgive me for the ignorance... But, wouldn't interstate trucking be one of the easiest self driving applications? Use a driver

I don't follow this space, so forgive me for the ignorance... But, wouldn't interstate trucking be one of the easiest self driving applications? Use a driver to get the truck onto the interstate, pull over to the shoulder, set truck in autonomous mode, get out, truck drives close to destination on interstates only, pulls over to shoulder, human driver gets back in... Seems like a good stop gap solution... --- Edit: So, maybe not the shoulder, but even a truck stop or an easy to navigate to area. Basically, removing the complexity of surface streets...

Kon-Peki 3y ago
If you plan to regularly drop people off on the side of the interstate, your business insurance is probably going to eat up any cost savings...
leetcrew 3y ago
the shoulder of the interstate is not a parking lane. merging back into traffic from the shoulder is one of the riskier maneuvers in driving, and leaving an unprotected human there is even worse. it's okay to pull onto the shoulder from time to time when there's a legitimate need, but it shouldn't be SOP for every trip.
ziml77 3y ago
That's not how the shoulder of the road is meant to be used. You can pull into it for emergencies but it is illegal to stop there otherwise.
- reaperducer 3y ago
  That's not how the shoulder of the road is meant to be used. The shoulder has many uses, depending on where the road is located. In Chicagoland, Pace transit buses use the shoulder, and have giant "Authorized to use the shoulder" signs on them. In the southeast, driving in the shoulder lanes is encouraged during evacuations, and they're painted with hurricane symbols. Shoulders can be easily repurposed for other uses. Never assume that where you are is how things are everywhere.
paxys 3y ago
Needing one person per truck waiting at highway off ramps to drive it the rest of the way negates most of the advantages of the system. Unless you can figure out the last mile you aren't making any money switching to autonomous driving, and the last mile problem is much easier to solve with small cars than semis.
- JimtheCoder 3y ago
  But it wouldn't be one person per truck waiting. There would be drivers who just spend all day driving the final 10 miles of the route, from off ramp to distribution center. Doing an 8 hour shift of that, 5 days per week, would also be a much better quality of life for the drive instead of being a long haul trucker, I assume. This may make it easier to recruit drivers - isn't there a truck driver shortage in America?
BurningFrog 3y ago
I think you need specific parking lots by major cities where you do the man/machine changeover, but otherwise this very much needs to happen. Aside from not paying a driver, it doubles the utilization of the trucks when they don't have to be parked while the driver sleeps. Huge efficiency boost.
- kubanczyk 3y ago
  Truck stops just outside cities (or hubs) are already a thing in my geo. A human driver who handled an outgoing truck could just wait (an hour or so) on the same spot for the next incoming truck.
  - BurningFrog 3y ago
    Yeah, the current truck stops are the natural place for this.
matwood 3y ago
Yeah, people are too focused on the shoulder. Your idea is doing what we do with ships today. Specialize harbor pilots get shuttled out to an incoming ship and then bring it into dock. They do the reverse when the ship leaves port. There no reason something similar couldn't be done for long haul trucking
- aetherson 3y ago
  But I'm not sure how big an opportunity long haul trucking is. Rail is a good solution to going halfway across the country. Trucking is a good solution for getting from your warehouse to the store ten miles away. Long haul truckers exist, of course, and I presume make sense in the niches they exist in, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that they're a relatively small percentage of the total trucking market.
- twic 3y ago
  And now we have jetpacks, we even have a way to get the truck pilots to and from the trucks on the highway!
Ekaros 3y ago
Realistically you could build warehouses and so on in locations and in ways that fully support access to highways in automated manner. Worst case have own ramps. Or just build parking lot in suitable location where trucks are driven to and from.
Roark66 3y ago
You would need drivers to cooperate. I believe it is hard finding truck drivers as is. Isn't that why its an industry where there is very high percentage of owner-operators? Imagine you now tell them they'll not even be doing the majority of the driving and 80% of their profit will go to the companies that automate the easiest part of driving. They're not going to like it. So as long as you need human drivers it's not going to happen (unless there is a huge recession and high unemployment, then people will take any job)

Kon-Peki 3y ago

If you plan to regularly drop people off on the side of the interstate, your business insurance is probably going to eat up any cost savings...

leetcrew 3y ago

the shoulder of the interstate is not a parking lane. merging back into traffic from the shoulder is one of the riskier maneuvers in driving, and leaving an unprotected human there is even worse. it's okay to pull onto the shoulder from time to time when there's a legitimate need, but it shouldn't be SOP for every trip.

ziml77 3y ago

That's not how the shoulder of the road is meant to be used. You can pull into it for emergencies but it is illegal to stop there otherwise.

reaperducer 3y ago
That's not how the shoulder of the road is meant to be used. The shoulder has many uses, depending on where the road is located. In Chicagoland, Pace transit buses use the shoulder, and have giant "Authorized to use the shoulder" signs on them. In the southeast, driving in the shoulder lanes is encouraged during evacuations, and they're painted with hurricane symbols. Shoulders can be easily repurposed for other uses. Never assume that where you are is how things are everywhere.

paxys 3y ago

Needing one person per truck waiting at highway off ramps to drive it the rest of the way negates most of the advantages of the system. Unless you can figure out the last mile you aren't making any money switching to autonomous driving, and the last mile problem is much easier to solve with small cars than semis.

JimtheCoder 3y ago
But it wouldn't be one person per truck waiting. There would be drivers who just spend all day driving the final 10 miles of the route, from off ramp to distribution center. Doing an 8 hour shift of that, 5 days per week, would also be a much better quality of life for the drive instead of being a long haul trucker, I assume. This may make it easier to recruit drivers - isn't there a truck driver shortage in America?

BurningFrog 3y ago

I think you need specific parking lots by major cities where you do the man/machine changeover, but otherwise this very much needs to happen. Aside from not paying a driver, it doubles the utilization of the trucks when they don't have to be parked while the driver sleeps. Huge efficiency boost.

kubanczyk 3y ago
Truck stops just outside cities (or hubs) are already a thing in my geo. A human driver who handled an outgoing truck could just wait (an hour or so) on the same spot for the next incoming truck.
- BurningFrog 3y ago
  Yeah, the current truck stops are the natural place for this.

matwood 3y ago

Yeah, people are too focused on the shoulder. Your idea is doing what we do with ships today. Specialize harbor pilots get shuttled out to an incoming ship and then bring it into dock. They do the reverse when the ship leaves port. There no reason something similar couldn't be done for long haul trucking

aetherson 3y ago
But I'm not sure how big an opportunity long haul trucking is. Rail is a good solution to going halfway across the country. Trucking is a good solution for getting from your warehouse to the store ten miles away. Long haul truckers exist, of course, and I presume make sense in the niches they exist in, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that they're a relatively small percentage of the total trucking market.
twic 3y ago
And now we have jetpacks, we even have a way to get the truck pilots to and from the trucks on the highway!

Ekaros 3y ago

Realistically you could build warehouses and so on in locations and in ways that fully support access to highways in automated manner. Worst case have own ramps. Or just build parking lot in suitable location where trucks are driven to and from.

Roark66 3y ago

You would need drivers to cooperate. I believe it is hard finding truck drivers as is. Isn't that why its an industry where there is very high percentage of owner-operators? Imagine you now tell them they'll not even be doing the majority of the driving and 80% of their profit will go to the companies that automate the easiest part of driving. They're not going to like it. So as long as you need human drivers it's not going to happen (unless there is a huge recession and high unemployment, then people will take any job)