On being asked by a young man about a career in driving, I replied that, along with some other professions, truck drivers will be rendered obolete by technology in the next ten to twenty years.
I believe that the USA military hold an annual competition (with a big prize) to find a machine capable of driving itself across 20 (I think) Km of varied terrain. I don’t think that the prize has yet been won but there have been very creditable attempts. I also beleive that Mercedes Benz invested big bucks in developing a drone truck that could mimic the moves of a human-driven truck which travelled a short distance (cms?) in front of it.
I am too old to be worried about this but people considering investing the neccessary time, money and should be advised that being a bus conductor might be a better career choice.
Has anyone else heard evidence of our impending obsolesence?
tosh,
when the trucks parked up on a night out whos going to stop the ■■■■■■ nicking the diesel.
whos going to hand in the keys at an rdc.
whos going to fill it up with diesel on the pumps.
its a never ending list.
worst still is that as a driver i am also a navigator. this truck will be driving completely on satnav only. very scary that.
cant wait for the future. see which is the first company to buy a fully automated truck and then bling it up with 10 spotlights and a couple of kelsa bars.
Why would the american military spend money on something a useful as a self driving truck?
They may want to develope a tank or plane that can fly/drive itself.
ROG:
With modern cctv technology etc, the ‘driver’ could do it from home on his PC
One nice thought - truck arrives at RDC and warehouse goes to say to driver “unload yourself” - "OH - no driver so I’ll have to do it " -
that would be ace. working from home
your piloting your truck from the comfort of your own living room ( i mean office), your broadband connection gets lost and you take out a little old lady at a crossing, the lolipop person aswell and crash head on into the dole office which has a big que of drivers waiting at the doors.
dave:
further to this, could an automated truck hook up its own trailer
and would the automated truck need to have
curtains halfway across the side windows
the spanish spears in each corner
the dream chaser
the wobbley ■■■■ ladies
the “trucker” flag
the “all e.u flags”
rope lights
big scania/daf/ford/etc lite up logo in the back of the cab
lite up seat covers
2 million spot lights above and below
the c.b mic hanging down
the cowboy boots
and last but not least
the hi viz vest to flash
this is very much tounge in cheek cooment so don’t start a war it’s a jokey thing as in sense of humour and if anyone wants me to get me coat and a taxi you pay the fare
Mr B:
They may want to develope a tank or plane that can fly/drive itself.
they have had drone planes for at least 10 years
A couple of points about trying to predict the future.
When I was a boy, like many I wanted to be a fighter pilot, if I had £10 for everytime I was told that by the year 2000 they won’t need fighter pilots as missiles could do the same job, without the risk or expense of a manned aircarft, I would not need to work.
Remember all them Tomorrows World programmes where we where told how we’d live in the future.
The job of a truck driver will be different with driver having to get to grips with more technology and rules and regs, but that’s no different than comparing now with doing the job in the early 70’s
i can’t wait. all i will have to do is sit back until it’s time to rope and sheet, or get a machine up and running before it can be loaded, or rearrange the crane times because of the weather. And many more things i have to do.
Oh sorry, I’m only a truck DRIVER.
Mr B:
They may want to develope a tank or plane that can fly/drive itself.
they have had drone planes for at least 10 years
They have drone planes now, which are just very sophisticated remote control planes. I saw a documentary and they are trying to develop indepent thinking killing machines that will take over the world and make the human race obsolete!!!
like the t-shirt they used to advertise in TRUCK magazine in the early 80s used to say: no machine could do my job until it learns to drink (or words to that effect, with a cartoon of a ■■■■■■ up robot)
Euro:
. I also beleive that Mercedes Benz invested big bucks in developing a drone truck that could mimic the moves of a human-driven truck which travelled a short distance (cms?) in front of it.
IHas anyone else heard evidence of our impending obsolesence?
I remember reading about this in a magazine, the driver of the second truck drove up to a few feet from the rear of the lead truck and switched the tracking system on when they were on the main drag, the second driver was then free to relax or take a nap
jonoD:
never read such [zb] in all my days, this isnt the jetsons or judge dredd or the fifth element, not suprised this has come from america though
Funnily enough, the technology is already here. Speaking as an ex-UAV software developer, I have machines in my garage which can fly between two points with no human intervention - it ain’t difficult.
As for driverless trucks, I think it will be a while - quite a while - before these things become common. But the barriers are legislative, rather than technological.
ROG:
With modern cctv technology etc, the ‘driver’ could do it from home on his PC
One nice thought - truck arrives at RDC and warehouse goes to say to driver “unload yourself” - "OH - no driver so I’ll have to do it " -
So one driver could say control 10 different trucks from his house/the pub,by just maximizing and minimizing windows every couple of minutes
maybe this is the reason that johnny foreigner has his laptop on the dash when he comes off the boat he is driving another lorry as well but the other one is in crakow and probably all his concentration is on not crashing in his home town and why he is all over the show in the uk
- no driver so I’ll have to do it 
" - 
but that’s no different than comparing now with doing the job in the early 70’s
