Driverless trucks

[HemiEd]

The driverless cars thread is getting pretty large and this information about driverless trucks is very interesting to me.
I know Walmart, from having two retired Walmart driver neighbors, is very interested in this.

"Driverless Trucking Startup Einride May be Planning a $5 Billion US IPO
Truck stops may get really quiet: Autonomous freight company Einride is considering a US listing this year that the Financial Times reports might value the Swedish startup at more than $5 billion.

Einride was the first company to put a self-driving big rig on a public road in 2019. The Swedish company’s biggest market is the US, where it kicked off a partnership with PepsiCo last fall to ship Frito-Lay snacks. Einride’s A-list client roster also includes GE Appliances, Maersk, and Heineken. The company handles routes around the world and is expected to deploy 200 trucks on UAE roads this week.

While robotrucks don’t get as much hype as robotaxis, McKinsey predicts driverless freight may rev up $600 billion in revenue by 2035 as the global shipping industry looks to go green and get a much-needed new labor force.

AI Takes the Wheel
The driverless freight biz leverages AI to learn routes and handle obstacles. A slew of startups is looking to get the edge on the most advanced AI, including driverless truck companies Gatik and Torc, which announced team-ups with Nvidia this week.

The big-rig biz may be less concerned about AI stealing human jobs than other industries. That’s because trucking’s in the midst of a major labor shortage:

The US needs 80,000 more drivers ASAP, according to the American Trucking Association, and that figure is expected to double in five years.
Europe currently needs 200,000 more truckers, McKinsey estimates, and that number will rise to 745,000 in three years.
Driverless trucks could also handle demanding 24/7 conditions and roads that are hazardous to humans. Volvo has sent driverless trucks to mines and quarries, where they have, for instance, carried limestone through dark and narrow tunnels nearly 500 feet underground.

Speed Bumps: AI won’t meet trucking’s labor demand overnight: Driverless trucks can still only operate on designated pre-mapped routes, usually from one hub to another. The industry has to wait for regulators to give their trucks the green light (Europe mostly approves routes on a case-by-case basis, while the US has a patchwork of state-level laws) — not to mention for customers to be less spooked by the sight of an empty big rig barreling toward them.

Written by Jamie Wilde"

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by wazu

A side note: The massive trucker shortage would no doubt be greatly helped by removing the absurd nation-wide requirement for CDL holders to abstain from marijuana use, even when not at work. It's a non-starter for a giant part of the population. Career-long truck drivers keep aging out, and young people would rather do just about any other job that doesn't have this stupid requirement.

So much knowledge in the posts in this thread, very interesting to say the least.

I wonder, if an applicant is blackballed forever once testing positive for THC?

Or, once they are clean after 30 day abstinence and test negative if they would be eligible?

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

So much knowledge in the posts in this thread, very interesting to say the least.

I wonder, if an applicant is blackballed forever once testing positive for THC?

Or, once they are clean after 30 day abstinence and test negative if they would be eligible?

I don’t think it’s a forever thing, unless you get pulled over and are caught using. You’d lose your CDL right away, or at least suspended for a lengthy period of time. Now, can you ultimately get it back? Probably, but I don’t know what that looks like.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Eh, saving $75k per year on every driver's salary would let you buy a hell of an insurance policy. That seems like a problem that's far easier to solve than the self-driving tech itself.

I don't think it is.

Currently the manufacturers employ not one driver. Not a single one. And the insurance guys are telling me more and more that all these scum sucking ambulance chasers are starting negotiations for injury settlements at the balance sheet.

Now, Manufacturers have good lawyers, but going from 0 to unlimited downside liability is material.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by ChiTown

I don’t think it’s a forever thing, unless you get pulled over and are caught using. You’d lose your CDL right away, or at least suspended for a lengthy period of time. Now, can you ultimately get it back? Probably, but I don’t know what that looks like.

Yeah, that situation would indicate very poor judgement and endangering not only equipment, but lives, so I could see that being very difficult to get reinstated.

I wonder if upon initial application for a CDL how it would be handled? Entry level?

[BWillie]

Lets fkn go.

Reduce the cost of shit is good

[notorious]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

Yeah, it probably will. It will probably stop in the middle of the road and flash "minimum safety standards not met" and not be able to move, blocking the highway.

You have always been a “Glass is half-full of liquid excrement” kind of guy.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by notorious

You have always been a “Glass is half-full of liquid excrement” kind of guy.

We used to have a saying in the Navy, Murphy's law or something like that. "If it can go wrong, it will. "

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by notorious

Maybe the computer will have minimum sense to not drive in 80mph wind.

They can obviously be programmed however. But if your fleet is driverless, it will have to deal with all sorts of conditions.

I-10 is straight forward. I -80 in Wyo in winter is going to be harder.

But I hope they can roll out trucks that are safer and cheaper than what we have now.

[scho63]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Eh, saving $75k per year on every driver's salary would let you buy a hell of an insurance policy. That seems like a problem that's far easier to solve than the self-driving tech itself.

You're missing one important component of this whole push: a driverless truck can run nonstop except for fuel stops and maintenance since they are not bound by keeping electronic logs of your hours driving.

Big efficiency.

[ChiliConCarnage]

Originally Posted by scho63

You're missing one important component of this whole push: a driverless truck can run nonstop except for fuel stops and maintenance since they are not bound by keeping electronic logs of your hours driving.

Big efficiency.

Think about the truck stop and lot lizard economy!!

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Zebedee DuBois

I'm just guessing here, but it seems to me that the 'over the road' part of driverless trucks would be the easiest part to tackle - but the delivery - backing into a dock after negotiating the parking lot seems like the hard part. A lot of delivery points can be a tricky, requiring a skilled driver to get into. I can imagine a robot truck locking up in some situations.

Nah. Docks can be equipped with hardware.

The GPS on my tractor can operate with sub inch accuracy. I’m sure the dock is the easy part.

The hard part is one of 3 things:

1. Unknown/unpredictable weather/visability/static/whatever else affects their sensors conditions.

2. Unpredictable/irrational behaviors of other drivers/pedestrians.

3. Hardware reliability.

[scho63]

There are already driverless trucks running a Dallas-Houston route as part of a pilot.

Others underway

https://www.ccjdigital.com/equipment...ilot-this-year

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by notorious

You have always been a “Glass is half-full of liquid excrement” kind of guy.

I’ve operated machinery with sensitive electronics and sensors. It’s 3/4 full.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

I don't think it is.

Currently the manufacturers employ not one driver. Not a single one. And the insurance guys are telling me more and more that all these scum sucking ambulance chasers are starting negotiations for injury settlements at the balance sheet.

Now, Manufacturers have good lawyers, but going from 0 to unlimited downside liability is material.

Sure. I'm just saying that insurance coverage isn't exactly rocket science. You calculate the risk and build it into costs.

[ChiliConCarnage]

I know 5 years ago approx. there were several follower type caravan services in testing where one human driven truck had an automated truck or two following it. That seems like a pretty doable thing on highways at least.