It seems evident to me that once these machines prove their value in both safety and efficiency, the companies that insure trucking firms will compel/persuade them to switch from human to self-driven vehicles.
These machines can safely convoy closely in one lane leaving other lanes free, will obey traffic laws and courtesy rules, and never get sleepy.
The disruption of the trucking industry is one that we will have to watch closely for its likely economic and political effects.
Its one step of many imagine we have a fully automated supply chain from Producer -> Consumer without much human interaction. And it will happen in the foreseeable future as this is just cost efficient.
Many jobs will disappear without replacement and we have nearly no discussion in the general public on how to solve this problem.
I don't think insurance is the main motivation here. Getting rid of the human element has a certain appeal to it from a management point of view though.
The US trucking industry is ripe for disruption. The role of a driver is minimal as it is: s/he has to just steer the truck along the highway, with periodic fuel stops. There's nothing preventing an automated system from doing the same. Self-driving cars may be years away, but self-driving trucks which automatically attach themselves to trailers, drive 2500 miles and drop them off, only to do the same in return, 24x7 ? That'll be huge.
Keep in mind that the role of a modern truck driver covers far more than just hauling a trailer on the freeway. Drivers also have to navigate city/suburb streets to an actual end destination (usually a warehouse), work with the loading dock workers, sign paperwork, etc.
Personally, I think we will see a system where trucks like this do all the long-distance driving and stop at a drop-off location just outside cities. Then the role of truck drivers changes to that of delivering cargo the last mile to the final destination (the part that's much harder to automate). That, too, will eventually be automated, but not for a while.
I kinda think this too. One thing that's particularly hard is driving through snow on a mountain. Even going through Tennessee is a challenge. I don't automation is there yet, and probably won't be for a while. Clean roads, where we know what's going on seem to be the way of automation right now.
If you don't train your humans to drive in bad conditions and good, they won't help here either.
When you see how crowded European truck stops are you realize that parking a truck there is probably the ultimate challenge for an autonomous driving system.
This system might allow two drivers to drive a convoy of maybe six trucks across a long distance of highway, but it doesn't provide much benefit over the existing road-trains that they use in Australia - and they've never been used in Europe.
The thing that strikes me about this is less to do with highway safety and more "how many assets can a company put in the hands of one human to guard?". It seems like it would be none too difficult for hijackers to box off the tail end vehicle and slow it to a halt giving them ample time to loot it before the driver even got a chance to stop the rest of the convoy. The looters could be gone without even needing to confront the driver.
This would be an arms race between truck companies and looters, with companies leveling up in security on their trucks.
But in this case I am not sure the problem is so different than with a human driver. I can't imagine a employee risking to get beaten up/shot just to save the cargo from a group of robbers for instance.
I've wondered why rail isn't automated. Trains have accidents but they have a (mostly) 1D, simple existence. Cars and trucks are mostly 2D, with many more variables and one-off situations. Fix rail accidents and you get a huge win.
A lot of trains are to various degrees. A lot of passenger services are entirely automatic with a conductor just shutting doors and checking tickets.
Freight trains probably aren't worth automating right now. Trains are huge, only one guy there, probably useful to have him there anyway if there is a mechanical fault (vs blocking the line for hours while the nearest person flys/drives to the train).
What if one car merges infront of one of the following trucks and slows down a bit? What do these trucks do at construction sites (we have quite A few of those on German autobahns)?
This technology looks hardly any better then Tesla's lane keeping assistant, the speed is set by the driver (it doesn't really matter if the speed is set by the driver in the very first vehicle IMO), and It only handles very simple roads
> The trucks did not travel in platoon for the entire journey — only on motorways when traffic conditions were "normal" — and each vehicle, even those following the lead truck, had a human driver on hand.
Also, the convoy formed a network and explicitly communicated with the goal of not just driving autonomously but also recognizing cost savings:
> a Wi-Fi connection keeping their braking and acceleration (but not steering) in sync.
The lead trunk has indicators that the convoy is platooning, sure some people with interfere with it but for the most part when drivers start to recognise this on the road they are mostly going to stay out of the way.
>This technology looks hardly any better then Tesla's lane keeping assistant
So? It's the first step in removing a human driver. Are you assuming that this technology is not going to ever improve? The end game is a head office operator that controls a network of 50 trucks across a country remotely. It's just a matter of time until they get there.
> This technology looks hardly any better then Tesla's lane keeping assistant, the speed is set by the driver (it doesn't really matter if the speed is set by the driver in the very first vehicle IMO), and It only handles very simple roads.
It's not better or worse, it's different. The main difference is that the trucks in the convoy talk to each other and can thus drive more efficient manoeuvres than a Tesla can because of that. Also not sure how this is related to Tesla given that Tesla does not actually manufacture trucks.
Each truck in the platoon needs to be able to drive competently on its own, right? I don't think one driver can change lanes for an entire platoon, and each truck will have to adjust its speed to allow for other cars merging in and out.
If that's the case, why plan to have a driver at all? Just for navigational purposes?
i was just wondering about the distance between these vehicles, and if that really would add up to some amount of finite-non-zero fuel savings as well ? for example, the lead vehicle just pushes the air away, and the rest following close by in the "slip-stream" experience less overall air resistance...
Totally pointless. I like truck drivers driving trucks . Not out of work angry and with nothing to do . Ohh and on a sid driverless trucks sound a lot like a train . Why not just use freight trains ?
[+] [-] riprowan|10 years ago|reply
These machines can safely convoy closely in one lane leaving other lanes free, will obey traffic laws and courtesy rules, and never get sleepy.
The disruption of the trucking industry is one that we will have to watch closely for its likely economic and political effects.
[+] [-] spdy|10 years ago|reply
Many jobs will disappear without replacement and we have nearly no discussion in the general public on how to solve this problem.
[+] [-] Havoc|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LoSboccacc|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] revelation|10 years ago|reply
They're clearly failing.
[+] [-] 1024core|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mdorazio|10 years ago|reply
Personally, I think we will see a system where trucks like this do all the long-distance driving and stop at a drop-off location just outside cities. Then the role of truck drivers changes to that of delivering cargo the last mile to the final destination (the part that's much harder to automate). That, too, will eventually be automated, but not for a while.
[+] [-] virmundi|10 years ago|reply
If you don't train your humans to drive in bad conditions and good, they won't help here either.
[+] [-] mortona|10 years ago|reply
This system might allow two drivers to drive a convoy of maybe six trucks across a long distance of highway, but it doesn't provide much benefit over the existing road-trains that they use in Australia - and they've never been used in Europe.
It's still exciting and amazing though.
[+] [-] ris|10 years ago|reply
Worrying.
[+] [-] hrktb|10 years ago|reply
But in this case I am not sure the problem is so different than with a human driver. I can't imagine a employee risking to get beaten up/shot just to save the cargo from a group of robbers for instance.
[+] [-] richardw|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] martinald|10 years ago|reply
Freight trains probably aren't worth automating right now. Trains are huge, only one guy there, probably useful to have him there anyway if there is a mechanical fault (vs blocking the line for hours while the nearest person flys/drives to the train).
[+] [-] Matt3o12_|10 years ago|reply
This technology looks hardly any better then Tesla's lane keeping assistant, the speed is set by the driver (it doesn't really matter if the speed is set by the driver in the very first vehicle IMO), and It only handles very simple roads
[+] [-] nmrm2|10 years ago|reply
> The trucks did not travel in platoon for the entire journey — only on motorways when traffic conditions were "normal" — and each vehicle, even those following the lead truck, had a human driver on hand.
Also, the convoy formed a network and explicitly communicated with the goal of not just driving autonomously but also recognizing cost savings:
> a Wi-Fi connection keeping their braking and acceleration (but not steering) in sync.
So quite a bit different from just lane keeping.
[+] [-] tablewatcher|10 years ago|reply
>This technology looks hardly any better then Tesla's lane keeping assistant
So? It's the first step in removing a human driver. Are you assuming that this technology is not going to ever improve? The end game is a head office operator that controls a network of 50 trucks across a country remotely. It's just a matter of time until they get there.
[+] [-] the_mitsuhiko|10 years ago|reply
It's not better or worse, it's different. The main difference is that the trucks in the convoy talk to each other and can thus drive more efficient manoeuvres than a Tesla can because of that. Also not sure how this is related to Tesla given that Tesla does not actually manufacture trucks.
[+] [-] lnrdgmz|10 years ago|reply
If that's the case, why plan to have a driver at all? Just for navigational purposes?
[+] [-] Animats|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ProZsolt|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] signa11|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chinathrow|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kaonashi|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dominotw|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] naveen99|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CullingTheHerd|10 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] shiftoutbox|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Havoc|10 years ago|reply
How many kilometers road are there in there world versus kilometers rail?
[+] [-] thescribe|10 years ago|reply