He wrote ‘‘THE’’ book on trucking after 6 months driving one lol
Our fellow poster should be back soon from OZ or NZ or somewhere he couldn’t say too much where he’s been involved in top secret hush hush not allowed to say anything, to do with autonomous trucks.
He assured us our days were numbered, sooner than us thickos could imagine, robbie the robot would be scooting 44 tonners round the fen pot holed lanes, passing tractors and cyclists with ease, then negotiating it’s way round Park Royal ind estate without any problems at all, avoiding the buses and hundreds of parked cars, then it would reverse in seconds into the right gateway, shake roboforky by the hand and plug itself in for a restart. 
The feller said it will require less skilled workers resulting in less wages,ain’t we already got that,ain’t the future great
There is no future in the job that’s the sure.
Even if it’s twenty years or 40 years is irrelevant.
It will happen.
I think quite a few drivers are in denial regarding this.
But like I said in a previous thread it’s not just our job it’s the warehouse jobs the office jobs loads of other jobs are at risk.
That being said the local firm that employs anyone near me is still hiring. And all they hire is data entry clerks so if they can’t even automate that yet we may still have a bit of time.
I think driverless anything won’t work. Pedestrians, cyclists, and horse riders don’t generally get in the way of motor vehicles, due to the very real fear of getting hit by one.
If autonomous vehicles must be able to avoid everything, sooner or later, people will gain enough confidence/stupidity to walk in the middle of the road with gay abandon, leaving the vehicles unable to get anywhere because they will be performing emergency stops every 20 yards.
They’re only at the delivering pizza stage yet. 
The whole ‘driverless’ thing is a bit more complicated than its advocates will admit.
In 2016, Volvo said it would be trialling driverless XC90s in London by the end of 2018…since then, silence.
The Otto driverless truck project in the USA has been dropped.
Daimler has abandoned its platooning project.
A speaker at the FTA Transport Manager’s conference last year, said driverless vehicles are now further away then they were two years ago.
I watch a video report about how driverless cars are being ‘trained’ to identify road hazards. A load of women, none of whom could drive, were sitting in a shed in an African country with an appalling road safety record, watching screens showing dashcam footage of American driving and pressing a button every time they saw a hazard.
I, for one, can see a problem with this.
Juddian:
Our fellow poster should be back soon from OZ or NZ or somewhere he couldn’t say too much where he’s been involved in top secret hush hush not allowed to say anything, to do with autonomous trucks.He assured us our days were numbered, sooner than us thickos could imagine, robbie the robot would be scooting 44 tonners round the fen pot holed lanes, passing tractors and cyclists with ease, then negotiating it’s way round Park Royal ind estate without any problems at all, avoiding the buses and hundreds of parked cars, then it would reverse in seconds into the right gateway, shake roboforky by the hand and plug itself in for a restart.
+1…
Neatly summed up by Juddian.
Roboforky lol.
Drempels:
I think driverless anything won’t work. Pedestrians, cyclists, and horse riders don’t generally get in the way of motor vehicles, due to the very real fear of getting hit by one.If autonomous vehicles must be able to avoid everything, sooner or later, people will gain enough confidence/stupidity to walk in the middle of the road with gay abandon, leaving the vehicles unable to get anywhere because they will be performing emergency stops every 20 yards.
+1
It wont be long before people realise the vehicle will stop for them every time, no matter what. Plus the fact in city centres or busy high streets, when people see a vehicle stopped they will all pile onto the road to get across while the vehicle just has to sit there.
The-Snowman:
Drempels:
I think driverless anything won’t work. Pedestrians, cyclists, and horse riders don’t generally get in the way of motor vehicles, due to the very real fear of getting hit by one.If autonomous vehicles must be able to avoid everything, sooner or later, people will gain enough confidence/stupidity to walk in the middle of the road with gay abandon, leaving the vehicles unable to get anywhere because they will be performing emergency stops every 20 yards.
+1
It wont be long before people realise the vehicle will stop for them every time, no matter what. Plus the fact in city centres or busy high streets, when people see a vehicle stopped they will all pile onto the road to get across while the vehicle just has to sit there.
Your basing all this on the fact that both the government and businesses will pit safety first. 
adam277:
The-Snowman:
Drempels:
I think driverless anything won’t work. Pedestrians, cyclists, and horse riders don’t generally get in the way of motor vehicles, due to the very real fear of getting hit by one.If autonomous vehicles must be able to avoid everything, sooner or later, people will gain enough confidence/stupidity to walk in the middle of the road with gay abandon, leaving the vehicles unable to get anywhere because they will be performing emergency stops every 20 yards.
+1
It wont be long before people realise the vehicle will stop for them every time, no matter what. Plus the fact in city centres or busy high streets, when people see a vehicle stopped they will all pile onto the road to get across while the vehicle just has to sit there.Your basing all this on the fact that both the government and businesses will pit safety first.
Ha, yes I know what you’re saying, but the more I think about it the more I think we’re actually governed by insurance companies - various governments having sold us to them bit by bit over the last forty or fifty years 
Roboforky made me lol too!
I think I’ve met the prototype in Asda Didcot, couldn’t get the curtains open fast enough for him #Respect
GasGas do you have a link for that? Curious as to the why and how.
The-Snowman:
Drempels:
I think driverless anything won’t work. Pedestrians, cyclists, and horse riders don’t generally get in the way of motor vehicles, due to the very real fear of getting hit by one.If autonomous vehicles must be able to avoid everything, sooner or later, people will gain enough confidence/stupidity to walk in the middle of the road with gay abandon, leaving the vehicles unable to get anywhere because they will be performing emergency stops every 20 yards.
+1
It wont be long before people realise the vehicle will stop for them every time, no matter what. Plus the fact in city centres or busy high streets, when people see a vehicle stopped they will all pile onto the road to get across while the vehicle just has to sit there.
It’s bad enough now, with a human behind the wheel, willing and determined to push forward! It’s like trying to drive through a swarm of jellyfish. They will NOT stop trying to cross the road even though the lights are against em. A robotruck has NO chance at all in city centres.
I can’t imagine a driver less truck doing my bulk animal feed job any time soon
Driverless trucks are coming fact.
It’s just a matter of time.
City centres are doable as they will just go stupidly slow instead of a fat trucker banging on his horn trying mow cyclists down.
Farm work is doable. Truck will stop at a premium determined location and await for farmers instruction.
I’m not saying this will happen soon as a lot does need to change I’m just saying it will happen.
The only real obstacles is the roads and the ever improving technology.
I think Irobot the movie had self driving cars doing like 70mph through busy areas and it was obviously if you step into the road it’s your own fault.
That being said it’s a long way off.
But automation is going to be a problem for a lot of people. We won’t be the first to get hit by it but we will get hit by it in the end.
I would guesstimate by 2050 we won’t be needed to drive a truck anymore.
J
adam277:
Driverless trucks are coming fact.
It’s just a matter of time.City centres are doable as they will just go stupidly slow instead of a fat trucker banging on his horn trying mow cyclists down.
Farm work is doable. Truck will stop at a premium determined location and await for farmers instruction.I’m not saying this will happen soon as a lot does need to change I’m just saying it will happen.
The only real obstacles is the roads and the ever improving technology.
I think Irobot the movie had self driving cars doing like 70mph through busy areas and it was obviously if you step into the road it’s your own fault.That being said it’s a long way off.
But automation is going to be a problem for a lot of people. We won’t be the first to get hit by it but we will get hit by it in the end.I would guesstimate by 2050 we won’t be needed to drive a truck anymore.
J
I disagree. Apart from the killer reason I outlined earlier, there simply isn’t enough benefit in having them to justify the disadvantages.
Imagine a brewery dray. The loader/“driver” sits in the passenger seat and helps to unload. He also will ultimately have some responsibility for the vehicle and/or load. Contracts of employment will be re-worked to allow him to live within a commutable distance of the truck’s base, and still earn a reasonable wage, otherwise he can’t do the job. He needs to be there anyway, so why pay him the same wage (which he needs to live) for doing less? None of this adds up.
Add this to the fact that robots don’t buy stuff with their wages, and you have a near perfect non-starter of an idea.
Drempels:
adam277:
Driverless trucks are coming fact.
It’s just a matter of time.City centres are doable as they will just go stupidly slow instead of a fat trucker banging on his horn trying mow cyclists down.
Farm work is doable. Truck will stop at a premium determined location and await for farmers instruction.I’m not saying this will happen soon as a lot does need to change I’m just saying it will happen.
The only real obstacles is the roads and the ever improving technology.
I think Irobot the movie had self driving cars doing like 70mph through busy areas and it was obviously if you step into the road it’s your own fault.That being said it’s a long way off.
But automation is going to be a problem for a lot of people. We won’t be the first to get hit by it but we will get hit by it in the end.I would guesstimate by 2050 we won’t be needed to drive a truck anymore.
JI disagree. Apart from the killer reason I outlined earlier, there simply isn’t enough benefit in having them to justify the disadvantages.
Imagine a brewery dray. The loader/“driver” sits in the passenger seat and helps to unload. He also will ultimately have some responsibility for the vehicle and/or load. Contracts of employment will be re-worked to allow him to live within a commutable distance of the truck’s base, and still earn a reasonable wage, otherwise he can’t do the job. He needs to be there anyway, so why pay him the same wage (which he needs to live) for doing less? None of this adds up.
Add this to the fact that robots don’t buy stuff with their wages, and you have a near perfect non-starter of an idea.
Robots don’t require a wage which a employer cares about more.
But the issue of automation and the current consumer/capitalistic model we use is an important point.
People have suggested that everyone will be given a basic wage in the future regardless if you work or not and doing actual work will be seen as a privilege. I’m not too sure about that but sooner or later we will have to deal with it.
I also predict in the next 10 years we will see mass layoffs due to automation.
I suspect this will come mainly form telephone advisors as they technology has been improving rapidly.
Sales assistants are another target.
Check out amazon go on YouTube. You literally just take stuff off the shelfs and put it in your bags.
adam277:
Driverless trucks are coming fact.
It’s just a matter of time.City centres are doable as they will just go stupidly slow instead of a fat trucker banging on his horn trying mow cyclists down.
Farm work is doable. Truck will stop at a premium determined location and await for farmers instruction.I’m not saying this will happen soon as a lot does need to change I’m just saying it will happen.
The only real obstacles is the roads and the ever improving technology.
I think Irobot the movie had self driving cars doing like 70mph through busy areas and it was obviously if you step into the road it’s your own fault.That being said it’s a long way off.
But automation is going to be a problem for a lot of people. We won’t be the first to get hit by it but we will get hit by it in the end.I would guesstimate by 2050 we won’t be needed to drive a truck anymore.
J
I think you’ll find that autonomous trucks in cities will require major infrastructure changes, this doesn’t mean it won’t happen, we’ve seen many infrastructure changes throughout history if the economic benefits make it worthwhile, (of course I use the term economic benefits, but more accurately if it benefits those who already have the money and power to push the changes through, not necessarily benefits the average person) but it won’t actually be one day a truck is driven, the next day the truck drive itself on the same roads.
However it’s unlikely these will work for farm deliveries, except maybe large agricultural centres.
I’m sure as with warehouse operations already being we’ll see automated shunters in the near future, controlled environment and could be more controlled if they had a trailer drop off and collection area leaving the rest of the yard to the shunters. With modern robotics I’m sure they could find a system where it can hook up the air lines.
One thing also comes across from interviews with the engineers working on truck automation; they say that truck automation presents far greater challenges than car automation, so just up scaling a car system will not work, unlike some truck drivers; they understand the different dynamics between trucks and cars.
Whenever truck automation is mentioned on social media platforms not dedicated to truck drivers, I read a lot of comment from people who seem to take pleasure in the idea that drivers will be done away with, they seem oblivious that most of there jobs will also face automation earlier than drivers.