Self-driving tractor-trailers...

[Imissedagain]

I rarely see an 18 Wheeler with a sufficient amount of thread on the tires or traveling below Mach10.
Bring back vehicle inspections and a test for those,
"stay awake pills."

 

[cmj8591]

I want to see one of those things navigate the Southeast Expressway into Boston at 7am on a Monday morning.

 

[Magnum_PI]

First thought, what could possibly go wrong...

Second thought, are the trucks being built by Skynet? I guess refer back to the first thought on this one.

Not a fan of AI and all of this self-driving anything...

 

[sigp220.45]

I'm fine with it. I worked some horrific crashes with tired and drugged up human drivers. I bet AI will work out better.

 

[Beemerguy53]

I notice all or most of the testing is in Texas. Not many if any winter driving conditions. Wait till that truck gets into a mountainous area of the northeast with snow and especially black ice. Not only that, someone will have to back it into a dock upon arrival. This will never work for pedaling LTL in a city. Their goal must be terminal to terminal.

I don't think the promoters of this driverless technology are arguing that it can replace all human truck drivers in all circumstances. It's pretty obvious it can't do that.

The thing that bothers me about this is who will be liable when the inevitable preventable accident occurs? With no human driver, who gets charged with a traffic violation if the truck breaks the law? Who is civilly responsible? I see nothing but legal headaches and trials/appeals lasting years while the case law for this technology is being created...

 

[Beemerguy53]

I want to see one of those things navigate the Southeast Expressway into Boston at 7am on a Monday morning.

Or I-495, the Washington, D.C. Beltway, at 5 PM on a Friday...

 

[steelslaver]

Count me as one who would have a dozen ambulance chasers on speed dial.

Odds are that if you are actually hit by a semi, human or AI driven, it will be your next of kin who needs that list.

While I am skeptical of AI's abilities driving semis or passenger vehicles, I am not all that impressed by the abilities of most humans in the same skill sets. Human drivers managed to kill 41,000 people, often including themselves in the slaughter.

 

[steelslaver]

In theory, rail freight can be done far more efficiently than long haul trucking. My understanding is that anything over 300 miles should be on rails. However, having loaded freight that rail companies did not pick up in. timely manner for whatever reason, and having shippers pay a lot more for expedited service, I am sure that trucks will continue to be the main freight mover for quite awhile.

IF we actually wanted to make America great again, building a dual rail system to grid the county in about 500 mile squares with conex handling systems at the intersections would go a long ways. Take a huge load off the highway system and save a huge amount of fuel.

Not only that but rail travel could also benefit. You get on a car at an intersection, it accelerates and hooks to the rear of a non stop train. Those that want to depart or transfer at an intersection, move to the rear car and it disconnects as the intersection nears and coasts to the station where it brakes.

All the rail carriers now want to handle is repeat groups of bulk cars that go from point A to B, have a non critical deliver time, are hard to damage and never complain.

The last actual make America great plan was Ikes idea of an interstate highway system

The Chinese have built 25,000 miles of high speed rail in the last 16 years. We have less than 100 miles of actual high speed rail despite spending billions planning more.

 

[johngalt]

I know I'm not ready to let AI perform surgery on me!

 

[Shibadog]

An 80,000 lb projectile traveling 70 mph controlled solely by a computer and gps. What could possibly go wrong? Kinda gives a whole new meeting to the term "computer crash". Think about it next time the gps in your car or truck shows you on a road that doesn't exist because of new construction��

 

[steelslaver]

An 80,000 lb projectile traveling 70 mph controlled solely by a computer and gps. What could possibly go wrong? Kinda gives a whole new meeting to the term "computer crash". Think about it next time the gps in your car or truck shows you on a road that doesn't exist because of new construction��

Garbage in garbage out is the main reason for that type of GPS failure and that is because humans in put it.

They are not controlled solely by GPS, but they have multiple close proximity radars. They can actually view and process a complete 360 around them, something no human can even if they actually use their mirrors. They also have the ability to process multiple pieces of information at one time at speeds most humans can not

Plus, the GPS systems would need constant updates, which are possible, mine will divert me around thing like road closures due to accidents etc, but it won't update unless I fork over some money

In THEORY AI SHOULD be able to drive better than most humans. But, I don' think it is there yet. To many variables, to much garbage input by humans and sensors and parts fail as do humans

 

[Roofuss]

What a can of worms this will open....!!

 

[NYlakesider]

What a can of worms this will open....!!

You got that right! Stand by and hang on!-

 

[Bald1]

I was a Teamster driver for 34 years. I drove over 2M miles with no chargeable accidents. I drove everything from pup trailers to double 48' trailers and 53' trailers. The biggest problem I see with this is AI anticipating what's next. Will it see or detect black ice? How can it? Will it see or detect smoke coming off rear axles where tire is about to blow? How can it? Will the truck pull over every 100 mi or 2 hrs for walk around safety check? How can it? Will it pull over and put out triangles and flares during mechanical breakdowns? How can it? The list goes on and on but I won't bore you guys with it. Before I retired my company decided green was the way to go. Lots of subsidies and publicity. We had natural gas engines and automatic 10spd transmissions. The transmission could never anticipate what was coming. I could be accelerating down the road in 8th gear. I'd want to stay in 8th because I'm at base of a steep grade. But when engine hit certain RPM it would upshift at exactly the wrong time. Then it would loose RPM and start downshift quickly. Next thing you know I'm doing 30 in a 55 and I'm "that guy" with a line of cars behind me. The reverse is also true. You'd have to get on brakes to get it to downshift on a steep grade. This is the opposite of how it should work. The people who design this stuff have never driven a commercial vehicle of any size. That's the scary part.

 

[dockmurgw]

I can see it now...rooms full of 20 somethings monitoring and controlling truck movement on their smart phones. The hermit's life in a Northwoods Maine cabin a hundred miles from the nearest road is looking better every day.

 

[britbike1]

night accident?

What happens when they come to an accident at night and a police man is giving hand signals which way to go?

 

[Yendor357]

Bald1, you were a Feeder Driver, weren't you?

 

[Doug M.]

I rarely see an 18 Wheeler with a sufficient amount of thread on the tires or traveling below Mach10.
Bring back vehicle inspections and a test for those,
"stay awake pills."

*
FWIW, trucks and are subject to inspections at a rate that would make most car drivers crazy, and that includes both random and for cause UAs. Part of the reason for possible perception of excessive speed from trucks is that de-policing and a shortage of LE personnel has impacted all enforcement of everything. While this issue can vary from state to state, we see the latter here.

I set my cruise at what I call "threshold of trooper", and am passed by almost all cars, but very few trucks, in part because this state adheres to the old and unwise concept of multi-tiered speed limits.

Tires? They have to be measured at a standstill; what one perceives when the vehicle is moving is almost certainly wrong. For lots of dum reasons, my division does the traffic infraction calendars, and the usual out of service violation is brakes out of adjustment, which is pretty dumb. (I think that is consistent with the national data, too.) As truck brake technology comes in the modern age with disc brakes and automatic slack adjusters, that is dropping.

 

[Bald1]

Bald1, you were a Feeder Driver, weren't you?

Nope. I actually drove for a large Grocery chain that had stores in NY, PA and OH. We ran doubles on NY thruway to the PA line where we then broke them to deliver stores in the Erie area. I started driving at 20 when I wasn't even old enough to cross a state line. It was hard work and the hours were horrible. I retired 1 month before my 54th birthday with severe back issues. The more I think about it I'm glad I'm done lol.

 

[Farmer17]

Trains are good idea unless you live near the railroad tracks where they unload, like me. There are trains constantly on it that stop then have to back up and unload at the Ben E Keith docs or the Purina plant and make you wait the whole time. If they could make all trains underground or on overhead bridges and not disturb traffic I would be OK with the idea but most Americans love their cars as the main form of local transportation.