truckman020:
,if wagons nowadays are £100,000+ with trailers how much would these self drive trucks be with all the technology
Cost is no longer an issue with self driving trucks, it currently cost 20k to convert an existing truck to self driving, the cost of a google car conversion is now less than 3k a lot cheaper already than a driver…
Just saying
Did they manage to find mh317■■ Did Tesco bank get hacked the other week?? Isn’t there a lad with autism looking at 150 years if convicted for hacking into the top USA files and hasn’t the Olympic team members had there personal accounts hacked by the Russians?? I could go on. I’m sure we’re all over thinking things and all will be ok.
I mean no one could hack into a truck… could they■■?
yorkielee:
Did they manage to find mh317■■ Did Tesco bank get hacked the other week?? Isn’t there a lad with autism looking at 150 years if convicted for hacking into the top USA files and hasn’t the Olympic team members had there personal accounts hacked by the Russians?? I could go on. I’m sure we’re all over thinking things and all will be ok.I mean no one could hack into a truck… could they■■?
They don’t need to be connected to operated autonomously. There really isn’t a lot stopping this progress and we will see them rather sooner than later.
Just look at London, a prime candidate to ban all cars unless they are autonomous, we can do away with all the cars owned as the commuters that do still need to drive will just use autonomous group owned cars or fleet cars operated by the likes of uber and Google, that are parked outside the City centre when not needed, all cabs will be self driving and there will be plenty of room for trucks. Smaller electric autonomous vans are already being build, they will hold 4-6 pallets or 8-12 cages and can do 90% of the inner city deliveries.
As I said, the governments, insurance companies and distribution companies all want this to happen, there are billions invested, they will make it happen.
At the current cost efficiencies the large distribution companies will make back any investment in 2-3 months, it’s a no brainer.
Just imagine an owner of a large distribution company or supermarket not having to recruit, no more planning, no more holidays, no more sick days and a truck that will run 24 hours a day 365 days a year. Automatic loading and unloading is already here, Amazon is building a brand new fully automated warehouses all geared up for autonomous operation, the States is a bit further ahead, Walmart has fully automated warehouses now. Here look at what Ocado is doing and Arla, these are warehouses where there are only 5 guys working instead of 500. Once one company gets going every single one will have to join them or else they will lose any competitive edge. The larger drinks manufacturers are closely involved in this as are the supermarkets.
Just imagine Tesco cutting even just 5% of their distribution cost, they will blow the others out of the water unless they join them.
Not a matter of if any more, just when.
And then people will become so disillusioned with the way there lives are going…they’ll lash out,and vote for any crackpot who pops up and offers change.
commonrail2:
And then people will become so disillusioned with the way there lives are going…they’ll lash out,and vote for any crackpot who pops up and offers change.
Why would people become disillusioned? No need for the capital outlay for a car especially if you live in a big city, pay for when you use it and it disappears from your street when you don’t, City centres will be just cafes and terraces, no need for car parking, clean and quiet electric taxis when you need it. Cheaper goods in the store as the deliveries are automated, quieter roads. Even if you want to go from London to Birmingham, you can join a car convoy doing 100 MPH while watching a movie or in case of Dipperdave do something else with your time. Once you get there, no need to park, just get out where you want to be.
Clean and quiet city centres without diesel fumes, deliveries are done at night so you would hardly ever see a truck or delivery once they are electric.
I see this as a win-win. I would go as far as saying cancel HS2 and invest the lot in autonomous transport and we can have it up and running in a year. Convert all motorways to autonomous transport and you would never have to worry about numpty in his beat up Golf ramrodding a convoy. You could go as far as banning private car ownership.
I can see one of the Scandinavian countries putting all this in place in 6 months if they set their minds to it. Don’t think that people in government aren’t thinking about it, especially in rich western countries and city states like Singapore and Honk Kong.
The technology is here and just about finished to be implemented, plenty of governments are adapting and changing the laws, including ours, so it is only a matter of time.
All the car and truck manufacturers are just about ready and have working models, now we need the legal framework, something that our government is working on and it will happen. Most of the population especially in big cities would champion this once they see how it improves their life and their environment.
In London for example, you could ban driver driven cars from 70-80% of the access and egress routes and use them for autonomous vehicles only over a weekend and ban all cars from the congestion zones except autonomous vehicles over a weekend. Then you take sections of motorway and only allow autonomous vehicles in certain lanes or during certain time, you could have them use bus and tram lanes, there is lots we can do very quickly and cost efficiently. Sweden switched from right hand drive to left hand drive on a weekend, very similar.
For now we would still need a handful of drivers at each RDC to park them on the bay and do the Shunting, until that is sorted. I guarantee you that there are meetings taking place right now between our government, the manufacturers, the suppliers and the supermarkets/shops/distributors.
It will be a very long time before the multi-drop guys need to worry. First to go will be shunters, followed by trunkers. Box jockeys are also prime targets for automation as all they really do is steer the truck from dock to yard.
London will soon be charging sky high rates for anything with an IC engine in the central area, that will expand and other cities will follow as usual. A lot of farm machinery is pretty much self driving these days too.
I’m quite looking forward to the bulk of my drive being done by a computer, the bit that worries me is whether I have to sit there with my eyes glued on the road just in case the computer screws up. I don’t think I’d be able to maintain the concentration, and I also don’t believe that firms will expect anything else…
I can’t see the truck being able cope with anything other than the trunking aspect for quite a few years yet, so I still think we will be needed in the short term of say 20 years! 
Evil8Beezle:
I’m quite looking forward to the bulk of my drive being done by a computer, the bit that worries me is whether I have to sit there with my eyes glued on the road just in case the computer screws up.
Don’t worry, when the bulk of your drive can be done by computer, you’ll be down the dole office. 
Personally… I think self-driving trucks are 5-10 years away, but when they do arrive they will take over from driver-controlled trucks as quickly as automatic gearboxes took over from manuals.
I would have thought the trunking ops would be the obvious start, but a quick search of google news returns this
bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37871391
Why have they designed it with a windscreen ?
How is it going to deliver the parcels? catapult them through peoples windows ?
wheelnutt:
commonrail2:
And then people will become so disillusioned with the way there lives are going…they’ll lash out,and vote for any crackpot who pops up and offers change.Why would people become disillusioned? No need for the capital outlay for a car especially if you live in a big city, pay for when you use it and it disappears from your street when you don’t, City centres will be just cafes and terraces, no need for car parking, clean and quiet electric taxis when you need it. Cheaper goods in the store as the deliveries are automated, quieter roads. Even if you want to go from London to Birmingham, you can join a car convoy doing 100 MPH while watching a movie or in case of Dipperdave do something else with your time. Once you get there, no need to park, just get out where you want to be.
Clean and quiet city centres without diesel fumes, deliveries are done at night so you would hardly ever see a truck or delivery once they are electric.
I see this as a win-win. I would go as far as saying cancel HS2 and invest the lot in autonomous transport and we can have it up and running in a year. Convert all motorways to autonomous transport and you would never have to worry about numpty in his beat up Golf ramrodding a convoy. You could go as far as banning private car ownership.
I can see one of the Scandinavian countries putting all this in place in 6 months if they set their minds to it. Don’t think that people in government aren’t thinking about it, especially in rich western countries and city states like Singapore and Honk Kong.
The technology is here and just about finished to be implemented, plenty of governments are adapting and changing the laws, including ours, so it is only a matter of time.
All the car and truck manufacturers are just about ready and have working models, now we need the legal framework, something that our government is working on and it will happen. Most of the population especially in big cities would champion this once they see how it improves their life and their environment.
In London for example, you could ban driver driven cars from 70-80% of the access and egress routes and use them for autonomous vehicles only over a weekend and ban all cars from the congestion zones except autonomous vehicles over a weekend. Then you take sections of motorway and only allow autonomous vehicles in certain lanes or during certain time, you could have them use bus and tram lanes, there is lots we can do very quickly and cost efficiently. Sweden switched from right hand drive to left hand drive on a weekend, very similar.
For now we would still need a handful of drivers at each RDC to park them on the bay and do the Shunting, until that is sorted. I guarantee you that there are meetings taking place right now between our government, the manufacturers, the suppliers and the supermarkets/shops/distributors.
I don’t like your predictions much but I think you’re right on the ball.
Nowadays even airplane pilots are just there for unexpected emergencies , the computers start the motors, taxi, take off, land etc without any interactions at all and that’s got to be a lot more technologically advanced than programming a truck driving a to b.
I can see some jobs hanging on for a while and a permanent need for a few but anyone who thinks it’s years away is wishfully thinking I reckon.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see driverless cars becoming the majority before trucks though, in Philadelphia right now there are driverless taxis operating. Seems like blade runner to me but the technology is already here, it’s not expensive, it costs less overall than a driver does and sadly it’s the future.
I work in North America so my view is shaped by the market here but I think it’s the future.
Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk
Just another excuse to dig the roads up again…these vehicles are not going to come into use anytime soon, maybe not until drivers learn to drive Non self drive ones, and they havnt learned to do that for the past hundred years. 
Can you imagine the chaos in embedding sensors over the complete road network of the uk…bloody hell, they havnt stopped repairing the M1 since they opened it in cave man days…
truckyboy:
Just another excuse to dig the roads up again…these vehicles are not going to come into use anytime soon, maybe not until drivers learn to driveNon self driveones, and they havnt learned to do that for the past hundred years.Can you imagine the chaos in embedding sensors over the complete road network of the uk…bloody hell, they havnt stopped repairing the M1 since they opened it in cave man days…
Sensors in roads?
I’m sure your right, not in our time. But the main technology they’re using here at least is cameras and radar with high spec gps. Google has silly little cars driving about all over the place, and Philadelphia has driverless cabs you can use right now. No road sensors, no centralized control just existing technology.
Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk
truckyboy:
Just another excuse to dig the roads up again…these vehicles are not going to come into use anytime soon, maybe not until drivers learn to driveNon self driveones, and they havnt learned to do that for the past hundred years.Can you imagine the chaos in embedding sensors over the complete road network of the uk…bloody hell, they havnt stopped repairing the M1 since they opened it in cave man days…
Don’t need sensors, the key is in what they are called, autonomous. As to the other muppets getting in the way, easy, ban them during certain times until the concept catches on, then ban them all together. All private cars will be used for is track days.
dunchues:
truckyboy:
Just another excuse to dig the roads up again…these vehicles are not going to come into use anytime soon, maybe not until drivers learn to driveNon self driveones, and they havnt learned to do that for the past hundred years.Can you imagine the chaos in embedding sensors over the complete road network of the uk…bloody hell, they havnt stopped repairing the M1 since they opened it in cave man days…
Sensors in roads?
I’m sure your right, not in our time. But the main technology they’re using here at least is cameras and radar with high spec gps. Google has silly little cars driving about all over the place, and Philadelphia has driverless cabs you can use right now. No road sensors, no centralized control just existing technology.Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk
London has them now, in Greenwich also Milton Keynes. Fully autonomous, no drivers at all. Futuristic looking things. They are rolling out a few more cities next year.
Harry Monk:
Evil8Beezle:
I’m quite looking forward to the bulk of my drive being done by a computer, the bit that worries me is whether I have to sit there with my eyes glued on the road just in case the computer screws up.Don’t worry, when the bulk of your drive can be done by computer, you’ll be down the dole office.
Personally… I think self-driving trucks are 5-10 years away, but when they do arrive they will take over from driver-controlled trucks as quickly as automatic gearboxes took over from manuals.
I reckon a lot quicker, the laws should be changed by Feb/March and Scania is already testing live platooning in the North, so I figure we will see the first ones middle of next year. They will probably start with platooning on motorways with observers on board then they’re on their own. The truck manufacturers in Europe are further ahead then the car manufacturers are, there is just more cost saving in trucks then there is in cars.
Autonomous trucks will be so much cheaper if you think about it, day cabs, no driver conveniences, low roof, no chrome, even more bog standard then the fleetspec CF is right now. Only need 1 seat and a seatbelt, everything else can go.
Cheaper to manufacture and cheaper to run, anybody still think this is not going to happen?
wheelnutt:
I reckon a lot quicker, the laws should be changed by Feb/March and Scania is already testing live platooning in the North, so I figure we will see the first ones middle of next year. They will probably start with platooning on motorways with observers on board then they’re on their own. The truck manufacturers in Europe are further ahead then the car manufacturers are, there is just more cost saving in trucks then there is in cars.Autonomous trucks will be so much cheaper if you think about it, day cabs, no driver conveniences, low roof, no chrome, even more bog standard then the fleetspec CF is right now. Only need 1 seat and a seatbelt, everything else can go.
Cheaper to manufacture and cheaper to run, anybody still think this is not going to happen?
Once they get going, they won’t even need a day cab or a seat, they will just be an engine on wheels with weather protection.
It isn’t going to happen for bloody years, driverless they will have no one to blame when goes pear shaped, and who among us is going to sit there even more vegetable like than currently, they won’t get me in a lorry that has any electronic input on the steering.
Dream on.
What they gonna deliver?
We’ll all be on the dole,feeling disillusioned.
commonrail2:
What they gonna deliver?
We’ll all be on the dole,feeling disillusioned.
My thoughts exactly…Whose going to be able to buy the stuff they are delivering?..
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
daftvader:
commonrail2:
What they gonna deliver?
We’ll all be on the dole,feeling disillusioned.My thoughts exactly…Whose going to be able to buy the stuff they are delivering?..
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
The only ones on the dole will be truck drivers that don’t get involved in the new technology and that is a very small price to pay. 100,00 or even 200,000 on the dole so the rest of the population can save some serious money on everything they consume?
Our economy and our world is changing rather quickly. Either join it or get left by the wayside.
The world has gone through this during each and every technological advancement and we always came out better at the other end, this will be no difference.
I don’t hear any of the box jockeys complaining about the hundreds of thousands of dockworkers that lost their jobs when the containerised shipping started. Nobody was worried about there being less people to buy stuff, stuff became cheaper, everybody wins. Maybe not the half a million that lost their job but that is progress. Same with autonomous trucks, they will benefit the population as a whole, that is all that matters.
The world moves on. With or without you.