Uber Self-Driving Truck Makes First Delivery

[uncle_albie]

The-Snowman:

Uncle Albie:

JIMBO47:
all fine and good until they decide the “human” is only needed at both ends of the trip …Then who fits the snow chains when needed …and a breakdown occurs and warning triangles need to be put out(by law).

Jimbo you need to get up to speed with technology.
The things you mention are not a problem these days.
Why do some not want to believe what is going to happen sooner rather than later.

Whit?
The need for snow chains is “not a problem these days”? Neither is putting a warning triangle out?
Ill take a couple of grams of what ever you’ve taken

Whit ya say■■? Think you need to do a bit of research as well. Also the clown seems to be in the dark ages as well.
Things are happening faster than most realise.

[uncle_albie]

caledoniandream:

The-Snowman:

Uncle Albie:

JIMBO47:
all fine and good until they decide the “human” is only needed at both ends of the trip …Then who fits the snow chains when needed …and a breakdown occurs and warning triangles need to be put out(by law).

Jimbo you need to get up to speed with technology.
The things you mention are not a problem these days.
Why do some not want to believe what is going to happen sooner rather than later.

Whit?
The need for snow chains is “not a problem these days”? Neither is putting a warning triangle out?
Ill take a couple of grams of what ever you’ve taken

Automated snow chains are there since the early nineties, and plenty used on the continent.
Don’t need a triangle out as these vehicles are made to avoid each other.
I expect there will be first self driving cars, to get the dumbness out of the traffic, than trucks.
The advantage would be that you can optimise the use of the tarmac, as lanes become less important and vehicles can choose the lane what is available

E.g you can have in the morning 10 lanes going east, while only one going west, during the day you can constantly change that on demand.
It becomes very boring (or maybe not as we thought we would fell asleep, when they introduced power steering, automated gearboxes, drivers who don’t off-load etc)

Thanks CD glad someone is up to speed.

[the_maoster]

Juddian:
Arn’t they trying to provoke war with Russia as we speak.

That cuts both ways my friend. I never thought that I’d live to see the day when the Russians would sail a naval battle group right down the English Channel whilst mocking the Royal Navy and stating (quite correctly too ) that our navy is too weak, stripped back and cash starved to do anything about it!

[slowlane]

the maoster:

Juddian:
Arn’t they trying to provoke war with Russia as we speak.

That cuts both ways my friend. I never thought that I’d live to see the day when the Russians would sail a naval battle group right down the English Channel whilst mocking the Royal Navy and stating (quite correctly too ) that our navy is too weak, stripped back and cash starved to do anything about it!

UK: “Pah! You’re carrier is ■■■■■■ Look at it… it’s barely afloat!”
Russia: “Uh-huh… so where is your carrier then?”
UK: “…”
Russia: “Thought so. Now ■■■■ off”

[the_maoster]

^^^^^^^ sadly very close to the truth!

[jimbo47]

Ok I will fall for it Uncle albie what do you know about driving in Colorado (I have driven class1 and if forced cross the border into the usa ) its a nasty place with storms and windy as hell on the open highway and the average Americans awful driving and if an accident occurs the way they would sue a company back to the stone age . and what research do I need? …as said before the auto chains will only work in a couple o inches o snow.
Check what they say on truckers report on OTTO trucks and 90% are saying the first time somethings goes wrong and kills someone the "company is finished ". also the OTTO trucks are only working in perfect weather conditions and light traffic conditions so from say end of October till april they are useless in the northern states and most of Canada as well. yup I will stay in the dark ages as its bad enough sleeping with another driver at the wheel never mind a jumped up GPS.

[wheelnutt]

JIMBO47:
Ok I will fall for it Uncle albie what do you know about driving in Colorado (I have driven class1 and if forced cross the border into the usa ) its a nasty place with storms and windy as hell on the open highway and the average Americans awful driving and if an accident occurs the way they would sue a company back to the stone age . and what research do I need? …as said before the auto chains will only work in a couple o inches o snow.
Check what they say on truckers report on OTTO trucks and 90% are saying the first time somethings goes wrong and kills someone the "company is finished ". also the OTTO trucks are only working in perfect weather conditions and light traffic conditions so from say end of October till april they are useless in the northern states and most of Canada as well. yup I will stay in the dark ages as its bad enough sleeping with another driver at the wheel never mind a jumped up GPS.

It will happen, billions are being spent by guys a lot smarter than you and even me that will figure out all these little problems and obstacles in no-time.

Robots are doing eye surgery now with no human involved, you reckon they can’t figure out a small problem such as chains or a warning triangle?

This will happen and most likely within a few years so you can either catch on and get involved somehow or get left by the wayside.

As soon as they can proof that it is safer then a human driver, the insurance companies will mandate it and will charge the human driver that much more and that doesn’t just apply to trucks, cars will go the same way. You will then see whole sections of the distribution/road network being set aside for just driverless vehicles to keep the muppet driver in his beat up old car/truck out of the way.

Warehousing/distribution is a prime target for automating. Just have a look at ocado or Arla they can run warehouses the size of a few football pitches with 6 guys. This is the future, take it or leave it and it is coming to a road/RDC near you before you can say “ah crap WTF is this”

When the car was first invented it took a few guys in a shed, now there are tens of thousands of pretty clever guys working on automating them with billions and billions of investment behind them. It is no longer an if, it is a when.

The stone age didn’t finish because they ran out of stones.

I bet you some Neanderthals were ■■■■■■■ back then too about this new fandangled bronze crap and kept coming up with objections, they were summarily left behind.

Get in, Get out or get out of the way.

[ftblunder]

Automation is all well and good, no doubt machines will be able to do our jobs far more efficiently than us in the near future, but since so much of our employment is in easily automated stuff, either there’s got to be a lot of other jobs to replace them that machines can’t do or our govt can look forward to an enormous dole bill.

[wheelnutt]

FTBlunder:
Automation is all well and good, no doubt machines will be able to do our jobs far more efficiently than us in the near future, but since so much of our employment is in easily automated stuff, either there’s got to be a lot of other jobs to replace them that machines can’t do or our govt can look forward to an enormous dole bill.

Employee cost is now a third to half the cost of doing business for a transport company, there are roughly 80 Million people worldwide working in transport. No business owner is going to stand in the way of automating that. Imagine trucks running 24 hours a day, never needing a break, seven days a week and you can clearly see the cost benefit of self driving lorries.

Only those that keep their head stuck in the sand will be caught on the bread line, those that accept that the future is no longer the future and it is already here will adjust and benefit from this.

Governments need to adapt too and will probably tax the self driving lorries a bit more to make up for the shortfall of tax revenue generated by that driver. In the UK drivers are generally older and will retire soon, there already is a lack of young drivers entering the industry, which is good, makes the dole bill a bit cheaper once the self driving trucks start doing their job.

If an industry doesn’t have to employ 80 million people and can run their assets 24 hours a day 365 days a year it doesn’t really matter if it cost half a trillion to develop it will pay that back in 3 years.

The economic model speaks for itself, it is going to happen and rather sooner than many here think.

Just look at the company mentioned here, Otto. They were bought by Uber for 700 Million dollars, not for their assets, they got none. For their knowledge, peanuts compared to the possible returns.

Have a look at those self driving mining trucks, they can run a whole mine that used to take hundreds of workers with a couple of kids behind a few laptops. There are self driving cars/buggies in warehouses/offices/hospitals. Google, Ford and Uber run hundreds of them in the US.

Self driving vehicles are all around you. All the truck manufacturers are working on it and a majority of them have proof of concept trucks driving around.

There are already self driving forklifts that can offload a truck at the end of its journey and load it at the start. seegrid.com/products/

We humans are just a stop gap right now and only temporary.

[the-snowman]

wheelnutt:
Employee cost is now a third to half the cost of doing business for a transport company, there are roughly 80 Million people worldwide working in transport. No business owner is going to stand in the way of automating that. Imagine trucks running 24 hours a day, never needing a break, seven days a week and you can clearly see the cost benefit of self driving lorries.

Only those that keep their head stuck in the sand will be caught on the bread line, those that accept that the future is no longer the future and it is already here will adjust and benefit from this.

Governments need to adapt too and will probably tax the self driving lorries a bit more to make up for the shortfall of tax revenue generated by that driver. In the UK drivers are generally older and will retire soon, there already is a lack of young drivers entering the industry, which is good, makes the dole bill a bit cheaper once the self driving trucks start doing their job.

If an industry doesn’t have to employ 80 million people and can run their assets 24 hours a day 365 days a year it doesn’t really matter if it cost half a trillion to develop it will pay that back in 3 years.

The economic model speaks for itself, it is going to happen and rather sooner than many here think.

Just look at the company mentioned here, Otto. They were bought by Uber for 700 Million dollars, not for their assets, they got none. For their knowledge, peanuts compared to the possible returns.

Have a look at those self driving mining trucks, they can run a whole mine that used to take hundreds of workers with a couple of kids behind a few laptops. There are self driving cars/buggies in warehouses/offices/hospitals. Google, Ford and Uber run hundreds of them in the US.

Self driving vehicles are all around you. All the truck manufacturers are working on it and a majority of them have proof of concept trucks driving around.

There are already self driving forklifts that can offload a truck at the end of its journey and load it at the start. seegrid.com/products/

We humans are just a stop gap right now and only temporary.

Whilst everything you say is entirelly valid, im wary of a future that has such machines that can work 24 hrs a day and never need to stop. What is the point of them if they mean there is vast unemployment because humans are not needed to do jpbs, therefor no one has any money to buy the things these machines deliver? Wont happen in my lifetime though I reckon but youre right, its deffo the future

[wheelnutt]

The-Snowman:
Whilst everything you say is entirelly valid, im wary of a future that has such machines that can work 24 hrs a day and never need to stop. What is the point of them if they mean there is vast unemployment because humans are not needed to do jpbs, therefor no one has any money to buy the things these machines deliver? Wont happen in my lifetime though I reckon but youre right, its deffo the future

Too late. Stop seeing it as the future, we are talking the here and now.

The same argument was made when the steam engine was invented, and the loom, and the normally aspirated engine and on and on…

That argument wasn’t valid then, isn’t valid now and never will be.

Billions and billions have been invested, tens of thousands of people are working right now on getting the last bugs and kinks out of it.

Autonomous transport/warehousing/distribution is here.

Keep ignoring it at your own peril.

[geoffo]

Where’s Colorwardo??

Great tech. for the future, but where does this lead to with regards to the driver??

[wheelnutt]

Geoffo:
Great tech. for the future.

Stop using that F word. If you don’t like the example of Otto in the thread here, look at what Rotterdam is doing, they have autonomous convoys of trucks that cross Europe. They still have drivers, just like the Otto but they are only there for the just in case. They won’t be there much longer.

eutruckplatooning.com/default.aspx

Scania will leave from Södertalje, south of Stockholm, driving through Sweden, Denmark and Germany to Maasvlakte II in the Port of Rotterdam, making a stop in Zolder, Belgium and in Zwolle, Netherlands. Volvo will start from Gothenburg, driving through the same countries, and stopping in Vilvoorde. Daimler will start from Stuttgart and MAN from Munich (both in Southern Germany). Meanwhile, IVECO will depart from Brussels and DAF from their production location in Westerlo, Belgium.

Open your eyes, this is not the future. It is here. Get your head of the sand and get involved or become obsolete.

The tech is all here, they are just working on making it all work together seamlessly.

Do you really think that they would spend all those billions on the tech and just park it because they care about a few drivers losing their jobs?

Just imagine if you invented something that could cut 40% of the operating cost of a business at least double the productivity and double the use of their assets. That is what is happening here.

[the-snowman]

wheelnutt:
Do you really think that they would spend all those billions on the tech and just park it because they care about a few drivers losing their jobs?

As I said, its pointless having all this wonderful technology to save money on wages when no one has any money to buy what they make and deliver because they got put out of work. Just because its been invented or is the future does not mean its necasserily a good idea or going to work out wonderfully well

[wheelnutt]

The-Snowman:

wheelnutt:
Do you really think that they would spend all those billions on the tech and just park it because they care about a few drivers losing their jobs?

As I said, its pointless having all this wonderful technology to save money on wages when no one has any money to buy what they make and deliver because they got put out of work. Just because its been invented or is the future does not mean its necasserily a good idea or going to work out wonderfully well

So you lose a few million drivers worldwide, the cost of moving stuff is down by a third. A no brainer.

In the Western world a third of the population was working in agriculture a hundred years ago, now that is less than 1 % wile production and the population has sky rocketed. Drivers are going the same way, just a bit quicker.

[the-snowman]

wheelnutt:
So you lose a few million drivers worldwide, the cost of moving stuff is down by a third. A no brainer.

You think the march to save money by cutting out the human wage cost factor will end with just drivers? You think thats the only job sector at risk?
You’re right, the future is now. Machines that mean no need to pay humans. Great till it dawns on them that no ones buying anything they make because no one has any money to spend and theres no jobs out there

wheelnutt:
In the Western world a third of the population was working in agriculture a hundred years ago, now that is less than 1 % wile production and the population has sky rocketed. Drivers are going the same way, just a bit quicker.

You dont get it do you? A hundred years ago, the world could support the change due to people being able to adapt to work with the advances. Now the time has come when the machines dont need the humans at all. Theres no where to adapt to now therfor no jobs

[wheelnutt]

The-Snowman:

wheelnutt:
So you lose a few million drivers worldwide, the cost of moving stuff is down by a third. A no brainer.

You think the march to save money by cutting out the human wage cost factor will end with just drivers? You think thats the only job sector at risk?
You’re right, the future is now. Machines that mean no need to pay humans. Great till it dawns on them that no ones buying anything they make because no one has any money to spend and theres no jobs out there

wheelnutt:
In the Western world a third of the population was working in agriculture a hundred years ago, now that is less than 1 % wile production and the population has sky rocketed. Drivers are going the same way, just a bit quicker.

You dont get it do you? A hundred years ago, the world could support the change due to people being able to adapt to work with the advances. Now the time has come when the machines dont need the humans at all. Theres no where to adapt to now therfor no jobs

Drivers as a percentage of the total population is miniscule. Getting rid of them to save the other 99.99% of the population 20-30% in the cost in distribution on everything they buy is no comparison.

As they did a hundred years ago, people will have to adapt. Good thing that the median age of a driver in the UK is 54.

[wheelnutt]

You can still get involved in trialling the London concept in Greenwich.

gateway.commonplace.is/gateway

Volvo is starting one too in London, don’t know about the start date (sometime early next year)

media.volvocars.com/global/ … ving-trial

[the-snowman]

wheelnutt:
Drivers as a percentage of the total population is miniscule.

Like I said, its not only drivers jobs at risk with the desire to save money on wages, its EVERY job.
Go to mcdonalds, press a button on an ipad and a machine hands you your food (made by a robot/machine) - Mcdonalds dont need to hire their 85000 employees.
Go to a restaurant, same scenario. Restaurants dont now need to hire chefs or serving staff. Another few hundred thousand jobs obsolete
Self flying planes equals no need for pilots (that days almost here)
Press a button on the screen in the seat and a machine brings the inflight meal or duty free. No more need to hire any cabin crew. Another what, 80000 jobs obsolete?
Apply these scenarios to every sector and you can see a big problem in 60 years time
Can you see what im getting at or do I need to go and get a piece of chalk?
We already see the effects of machines doing jobs and people being made obsolete. Whole towns left bereft and thats the tip of the iceberg. Great for companies, not so good for the population or world in the long term.
Thankfully ill be dead and buried by then but the irony is itll probably be an automated machine that digs the hole I get put in

[wheelnutt]

The-Snowman:

wheelnutt:
Drivers as a percentage of the total population is miniscule.

Like I said, its not only drivers jobs at risk with the desire to save money on wages, its EVERY job.
Go to mcdonalds, press a button on an ipad and a machine hands you your food (made by a robot/machine) - Mcdonalds dont need to hire their 85000 employees.
Go to a restaurant, same scenario. Restaurants dont now need to hire chefs or serving staff. Another few hundred thousand jobs obsolete
Self flying planes equals no need for pilots (that days almost here)
Press a button on the screen in the seat and a machine brings the inflight meal or duty free. No more need to hire any cabin crew. Another what, 80000 jobs obsolete?
Apply these scenarios to every sector and you can see a big problem in 60 years time
Can you see what im getting at or do I need to go and get a piece of chalk?
We already see the effects of machines doing jobs and people being made obsolete. Whole towns left bereft and thats the tip of the iceberg. Great for companies, not so good for the population or world in the long term.
Thankfully ill be dead and buried by then but the irony is itll probably be an automated machine that digs the hole I get put in

You got it. MOST low paying jobs are at risk in the next decade. And that is the key right there; low paying job. The economy and civilisation as a whole would still gain if ALL the low paying jobs go.