Self-driving 18 wheel tractor trailer truck,...

[magicarpet]

.... video of on road action. Here they come getting closer and closer. Working on freight trains too.

https://youtube.com/shorts/ztoGAQ1S-cY?si=AguLTx7ys5AU_FYp

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Will the public accept driverless trucks on the same roads that the public uses?

Prehaps a transport system that is exclusively for driverless 18 wheelers....but how to create?

[ret5hd]

2. Maybe we could put them on tracks...

separate from regular traffic.

Maybe, a step farther down the road, we could upgrade the tracks to make them faster.

Even more, maybe some of the trucks could be designed to carry passengers rather than just freight.

Maybe we could give it all a nifty name, like maybe “bullet-semis” or FastTrak or something like that.

[OAITW r.2.0]

3. I like your vision.

Still, I'd like a human engineer having control of the "Bullet-Semi's"....they have skin in the safety game.

[ret5hd]

5. If everyone would listen to me...

we could really go places. I’ve thought about starting a newsletter…maybe you could be my first subscriber!

[OAITW r.2.0]

8. No need....

I read it here first on DU, when you Post~

[ret5hd]

10. I was thinking of calling it OnlyReaders...

and charge a fee.

[OAITW r.2.0]

16. If you expose your true self....

it might be worth a read.

[Ocelot II]

6. Doesn't that make them trains? Don't we already have those?

[ret5hd]

9. Damn! I knew I was missing something!

Never mind.

[ecstatic]

22. lol! nt

[brush]

12. Heehee. Now you're talking. Guess no one ever thought of all that before.

I know I don't wanna be on the road with driverless 18-wheelers. Even driver-less cars haven't been perfected yet.

[edisdead]

4. Eventually yes.

I drive for a living. There are some things that will have to be handled differently by an autonomous vehicle but yeah it is going to happen eventually and at some point it won’t even be a thought for people. It will just be a thing that happens.

[OAITW r.2.0]

11. "Driverless" may mean, a person who can apply brakes and steer to a stop.

Not a real operator as we understand the term today. An entry level job, paying minimum wage, to add an additional reality check to the IC's making massive split second mechanical/electrical decisions.

[brush]

13. They have to figure out a way to keep the vehicle attendants awake...

alert and paying attention during long-haul trips. It won't be easy as that's got to be the most boring job I can imagine.

Maybe some kind of mild electrical shock attachment to the attendant's arm if he/she doesn't buzz in every 20 seconds?

Or constant, high tempo music? Mandatory coffee drinking (then therer'd have to be periodic bathroom stops, or a catheter attachments maybe?

:satire:

Joking but serious at the same time as that would be a boring job.

[OAITW r.2.0]

14. You expose a true problem!

If I was hired, I'd be snoozin' while cruzin.

[diva77]

7. I saw a driverless vehicle parked by the roadside today. I wonder whether it was taking a lunch

break.

Too many sensory appendages hanging off those vehicles -- what if one gets side-swiped and an appendage gets damaged? Will the whole thing go wild? I don't think driverless vehicles of any size belong on the same roads as humans.

[EllieBC]

15. It started with bank tellers and no one cared.

ATMs replaced them. Automation is replacing fast food workers and at least a handful of people cared which is better than the no one that cared about tellers.

Now automation is coming for other jobs.

Are you shocked?

[OAITW r.2.0]

17. Back in the 80's. I used to buy GE electric motors for our machine tools.

25-75HP electrical DC drives. Used to order like clockwork from the factory in Lynn, MA, I think. In the mid-80's I placed an order and got the leadtime confirmed at 20 weeks! BF Problem. Why? Production moving to Mexico. So, not only do I have to wait, I need to be a first customer for these motors?

Made me think.....if we export all of our manufacturing technology-

Who's going to buy the products?
How will we - as a country - survive in the 21st Century?

[EllieBC]

18. Yup.

Manufacturing moving away from the US and automation have gutted the working class. And no one blinked an eye.

“Progress” we kept hearing. It’s progress.

[OAITW r.2.0]

19. I am betting that "real world" guerilla manufacturing can thrive,

Bring a bunch of smart people - ID an opportunity, generate funding, design/produce, then disband. I am here for that.

[ripcord]

20. I'm a retired driver

I don't think self driving vehicles can be any worse than some of the people licensed to drive trucks, no sarcasm intended.

[ecstatic]

21. This better not ever see the light of day

First of all, fuck that. Let real people keep those jobs. Second of all, I don't want a driverless killing machine next to me on the road. Just one tap from one of those things will send any car or group of cars spiraling to disaster. No. We need to put our foot down on this. Just my opinion, of course.