6 ms·

Freightliner Inspiration Truck Unveiled at Hoover Dam

43 points by tpatke 11y ago

sbarre 11y ago
So, if I understand this, there is still a human in the truck, they're just not driving most of the time?
- pgeorgi 11y ago
  yes, for example for all parts of the route that are not on a highway. They have the numbers that it's less stressful work, which they'll no doubt manage to compensate for soon enough with more work. They can also collect data that may help automating larger parts of the route. Or evidence that machines are more reliable than humans (making the case for building these things without a driver's seat)
  - sbarre 11y ago
    Interesting.. I always assumed the first iteration of this would be on separated lanes that ran alongside highways.. Maybe once they go full drone (never go full drone) that's what they will have to do, depending on public opinion..
    - Avshalom 11y ago
      I believe cost per mile for a lane of highway starts in the millions range and can get towards the billion range going through cities. Thats assuming you can even get the land at any price.
  - jotm 11y ago
    Basically, these drivers get first seat tickets to watching their jobs slowly being taken away from them by machines.
    - gambiting 11y ago
      Can't the same thing be said about pilots though? They spend something like 1% of the total flight time actually controlling the plane, everything else is automated. Yet we can't actually get rid of them,because you always need to have someone who knows what to do in case of an emergency. I imagine it will be the same with truck drivers.
      - msandford 11y ago
        Yeah, it's just a lot worse in the case of a truck than a plane. In a plane for 99% of the flight you've got MINUTES to deal with errors and avert a crash, since you're several miles up in the air. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadstick_landing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadstick_landing When you're in a truck everything seems to be OK until some kind of non-obvious corner case comes up and BOOM! "you" (the truck) just crashed into a car and killed a family. Not a job I'd want since you probably have all the liability for the problems and none of the time to react that you'd want. Watching a truck drive itself -- if you're on call to jump in and try and avert a disaster -- is probably more stressful than just driving it yourself.
      - dEnigma 11y ago
        A truck could just stop at the shoulder when something goes wrong and wait for assistance, while a plane still has to land, which is anything but easy, depending on the circumstances.
        gambiting 11y ago
        Like the other person pointed out - if you have a problem with a plane and the autopilot disengages, a pilot has minutes(sometimes several) to figure out what is going on and land the plane safely. If an automated truck is driving on a highway and one of the tyres blows out, the time between autopilot disengaging and the truck moving into opposite lane and colliding with someone head-on is measured in seconds. Obviously, there is no guarantee that a human driver would handle it better, but it's a real problem with automated cars.
  - mason240 11y ago
    What I am really looking forward too is RVs with this technology. Simply load up the family, drive to freeway, and let the RV take over, and hang out in the back for 8 hours while going to your destination.
- mitchell_h 11y ago
  This is also what farm equipment automation is currently taking. A human drives the tractor/combine/* into the field hits "Go" on a screen and turns around to watch what the implement is doing.
- tootie 11y ago
  This has just unlocked a dream for me. Imagine having a remote working kind of job (like, say a programmer). You could pretty much just do your job from the cabin of a long-haul truck pausing only occasionally to top up on fuel or drive through messy conditions the computer can't handle. It's an introvert dream come true.
  - pinaceae 11y ago
    this will go in the other direction though - drones are remotely controlled, fleets of trucks will be as well. one operator, 25 trucks, only need to take over for special tasks. depended on network coverage, yes, but most trucks move between well covered, urbanized areas.
samsolomon 11y ago
Calling this thing “The Inspiration” is the most uninspiring thing about this truck. It's difficult to make it through the video with all of the buzzwords. Seems like a huge missed opportunity, because it’s a pretty impressive accomplishment.
- zrail 11y ago
  Not that you're wrong, but I don't think you're the target market. The people who eventually buy these trucks probably eat all that up, since it's probably pretty new to them.
mrfusion 11y ago
Why no pictures?
delinka 11y ago
Is this article missing photos or is it just the mobile version that's missing them?
- michaelbuckbee 11y ago
  It's a straight text press release, I found a Car and Driver gallery here: http://www.caranddriver.com/photo-gallery/the-trucks-are-alive-freightliner-gets-license-to-run-autonomous-semi-truck#31 http://www.caranddriver.com/photo-gallery/the-trucks-are-ali... - the truck pretty much looks like a semi truck, the interesting thing to me is the image I linked to, which is the UI for 'highway pilot' mode.
jaynos 11y ago
Since using the Hoover Dam as a projection screen is probably cooler than the actual truck, I dug up a link that show it. Full article, but the photo in question is halfway down [0]. edit: Found more background and pictures on the projection. Started a new thread so as not to hijack [1]. [0] http://www.trucknews.com/mobile-and-it/freightliners-autonomously-driven-inspiration-truck-debuts-in-record-setting-fashion/1003065417/ http://www.trucknews.com/mobile-and-it/freightliners-autonom... [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9504958 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9504958
jokr004 11y ago
Am I being irrational or is anyone else infuriated by the use of "an historic"? No one would ever say "an history", why do people say this?
- lojack 11y ago
  > A historic is more common in both American and British English, but both usages are sufficiently common to be considered correct. http://www.betterwritingskills.com/tip-w005.html http://www.betterwritingskills.com/tip-w005.html
- noblethrasher 11y ago
  I'm sure that I am in the minority, but for some reason "a historic" sounds like it should be an adjective meaning "non-historic" (like "apolitical" or "amoral").
unics 11y ago
This of course reminds me of the story about a lawsuit Winnebago fought about a guy who activated cruise-control and went back to make a sandwich. Does anyone else see the possibility of seeing some very strange activities associated with drivers with way too much time on their hands being reported in the near future? I've seen some pretty wild things going down highways but the possibilities are endless with autopilot.
- hippich 11y ago
  for what it worth - tried to find story about lawsuit you mentioned, when stumbled upon this - http://www.stellaawards.com/bogus.html http://www.stellaawards.com/bogus.html :)

43 points by tpatke 11y ago

sbarre 11y ago

So, if I understand this, there is still a human in the truck, they're just not driving most of the time?

pgeorgi 11y ago
yes, for example for all parts of the route that are not on a highway. They have the numbers that it's less stressful work, which they'll no doubt manage to compensate for soon enough with more work. They can also collect data that may help automating larger parts of the route. Or evidence that machines are more reliable than humans (making the case for building these things without a driver's seat)
- sbarre 11y ago
  Interesting.. I always assumed the first iteration of this would be on separated lanes that ran alongside highways.. Maybe once they go full drone (never go full drone) that's what they will have to do, depending on public opinion..
  - Avshalom 11y ago
    I believe cost per mile for a lane of highway starts in the millions range and can get towards the billion range going through cities. Thats assuming you can even get the land at any price.
- jotm 11y ago
  Basically, these drivers get first seat tickets to watching their jobs slowly being taken away from them by machines.
  - gambiting 11y ago
    Can't the same thing be said about pilots though? They spend something like 1% of the total flight time actually controlling the plane, everything else is automated. Yet we can't actually get rid of them,because you always need to have someone who knows what to do in case of an emergency. I imagine it will be the same with truck drivers.
    - msandford 11y ago
      Yeah, it's just a lot worse in the case of a truck than a plane. In a plane for 99% of the flight you've got MINUTES to deal with errors and avert a crash, since you're several miles up in the air. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadstick_landing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadstick_landing When you're in a truck everything seems to be OK until some kind of non-obvious corner case comes up and BOOM! "you" (the truck) just crashed into a car and killed a family. Not a job I'd want since you probably have all the liability for the problems and none of the time to react that you'd want. Watching a truck drive itself -- if you're on call to jump in and try and avert a disaster -- is probably more stressful than just driving it yourself.
    - dEnigma 11y ago
      A truck could just stop at the shoulder when something goes wrong and wait for assistance, while a plane still has to land, which is anything but easy, depending on the circumstances.
      - gambiting 11y ago
        Like the other person pointed out - if you have a problem with a plane and the autopilot disengages, a pilot has minutes(sometimes several) to figure out what is going on and land the plane safely. If an automated truck is driving on a highway and one of the tyres blows out, the time between autopilot disengaging and the truck moving into opposite lane and colliding with someone head-on is measured in seconds. Obviously, there is no guarantee that a human driver would handle it better, but it's a real problem with automated cars.
- mason240 11y ago
  What I am really looking forward too is RVs with this technology. Simply load up the family, drive to freeway, and let the RV take over, and hang out in the back for 8 hours while going to your destination.
mitchell_h 11y ago
This is also what farm equipment automation is currently taking. A human drives the tractor/combine/* into the field hits "Go" on a screen and turns around to watch what the implement is doing.
tootie 11y ago
This has just unlocked a dream for me. Imagine having a remote working kind of job (like, say a programmer). You could pretty much just do your job from the cabin of a long-haul truck pausing only occasionally to top up on fuel or drive through messy conditions the computer can't handle. It's an introvert dream come true.
- pinaceae 11y ago
  this will go in the other direction though - drones are remotely controlled, fleets of trucks will be as well. one operator, 25 trucks, only need to take over for special tasks. depended on network coverage, yes, but most trucks move between well covered, urbanized areas.

samsolomon 11y ago

Calling this thing “The Inspiration” is the most uninspiring thing about this truck. It's difficult to make it through the video with all of the buzzwords. Seems like a huge missed opportunity, because it’s a pretty impressive accomplishment.

zrail 11y ago
Not that you're wrong, but I don't think you're the target market. The people who eventually buy these trucks probably eat all that up, since it's probably pretty new to them.

mrfusion 11y ago

Why no pictures?

delinka 11y ago

Is this article missing photos or is it just the mobile version that's missing them?

michaelbuckbee 11y ago
It's a straight text press release, I found a Car and Driver gallery here: http://www.caranddriver.com/photo-gallery/the-trucks-are-alive-freightliner-gets-license-to-run-autonomous-semi-truck#31 http://www.caranddriver.com/photo-gallery/the-trucks-are-ali... - the truck pretty much looks like a semi truck, the interesting thing to me is the image I linked to, which is the UI for 'highway pilot' mode.

jaynos 11y ago

Since using the Hoover Dam as a projection screen is probably cooler than the actual truck, I dug up a link that show it. Full article, but the photo in question is halfway down [0]. edit: Found more background and pictures on the projection. Started a new thread so as not to hijack [1]. [0] http://www.trucknews.com/mobile-and-it/freightliners-autonomously-driven-inspiration-truck-debuts-in-record-setting-fashion/1003065417/ http://www.trucknews.com/mobile-and-it/freightliners-autonom... [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9504958 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9504958

jokr004 11y ago

Am I being irrational or is anyone else infuriated by the use of "an historic"? No one would ever say "an history", why do people say this?

lojack 11y ago
> A historic is more common in both American and British English, but both usages are sufficiently common to be considered correct. http://www.betterwritingskills.com/tip-w005.html http://www.betterwritingskills.com/tip-w005.html
noblethrasher 11y ago
I'm sure that I am in the minority, but for some reason "a historic" sounds like it should be an adjective meaning "non-historic" (like "apolitical" or "amoral").

unics 11y ago

This of course reminds me of the story about a lawsuit Winnebago fought about a guy who activated cruise-control and went back to make a sandwich. Does anyone else see the possibility of seeing some very strange activities associated with drivers with way too much time on their hands being reported in the near future? I've seen some pretty wild things going down highways but the possibilities are endless with autopilot.

hippich 11y ago
for what it worth - tried to find story about lawsuit you mentioned, when stumbled upon this - http://www.stellaawards.com/bogus.html http://www.stellaawards.com/bogus.html :)