A self-driving truck just hauled 51,744 cans of Budweiser on a Colorado highway

[Zzyzx_Road]

more beer! more beer! yay!

Seriously, the real game changer will be in long haul trucking, the kind where drivers spend 2 to 5 days a week on the road when driving from one region to another. This will be common within about 5 to 7 years. Driver pay is a big expense plus drivers have mandatory rest times, something the self driving trucks won’t be bothered by since by that time, they won’t need anyone to be on board, all monitoring will take place from a central station. The major trucking corridors like the I-40 will have refueling stops that are specifically designed to work with self driving trucks. The only need for drivers at that point is for local stops and deliveries once a truck has reached the destination city. So it will be possible for a self driving truck to take a load from the Los Angeles/Long Beach or Seattle ports and drive it to the east coast in less than 48 hours. Or vice versa for goods coming into the east and gulf coast ports.

A related game changer will be in the short haul same day delivery business for small items and small shipments as these are taken over by drones. Amazon is rather prominent with this but you can bet FedEx and UPS are not far behind.

 

[asia53]

Exactly! Ummm, it was Budweiser. shaw:

 

[mikekle]

There are going to be a lot of unemployed truck drivers (and cab drivers) in the near future. We’re going to have to figure out something to do about that.

But that begs the question, do you put a stop to the progress of technology for the sake of keeping certain industries or jobs around?

Thru out history, the progress of technology has always led to certain industries/ jobs to become non-existent.

Its pretty safe to assume the big trucking and freight companies are probably supporting and behind the self driving change over, It will save them billions over the years and its good for consumers too, cheaper it is to haul goods, the cheaper they are on the shelves.

 

[mikekle]

Sometime in the near future I believe all cars sold will be self driving.

All the big automakers have the first line of SD cars coming out in 2018, I believe within the following 10-15 years, they will stop making manual drive cars and eventually SD cars will be mandatory, probably within my lifetime.

It will be billed as a safety thing, and really it is, human error accounts for most traffic accidents, if this can be stopped and save lives, great, but it will have to be everyone giving in to SD, not just random, humans are too unpredictable for a computer, however once everyone has a SD car, there will be no need for traffic lights, car insurance, not much need for cops doing traffic patrols anymore, eventually auto body and collision repair industry will be a thing of the past too.

 

[Abynissa]

**Robots will eliminate 6% of all US jobs by 2021, report says **

By 2021, robots will have eliminated 6% of all jobs in the US, starting with customer service representatives and eventually truck and taxi drivers. That’s just one cheery takeaway from a report released by market research company Forrester this week.

Customer service, tech support, taxi, chauffeurs, long haul trucks, local bus service, fast food resturants, medical diagnostics, mfg and assembly jobs etc. will be all gone. Future Shock by Alvin Toffler!

Society and government infrastructure is not developed to handle this incredible change.
**
Economists forecast an 83% chance that workers earning less than $20 per hour will lose their jobs to robots.**

Wage earners who receive up to $40 in hourly pay face a 31% chance they’ll be replaced by robots, while workers who are paid more than $40 an hour face much lower odds – about 4 percent – of losing their jobs to automation.

The estimates underscore the myriad threats facing low-wage workers in America, who in recent years have been buffeted by stagnant wages, decreasing employment prospects and higher education costs if they wish to obtain additional credentials in pursuit of better-paying jobs.

So what happens to these unemployed people. Does society allow them to die off in mass starvation and sickness?

 

[mikekle]

**Robots will eliminate 6% of all US jobs by 2021, report says **

Customer service, tech support, taxi, chauffeurs, long haul trucks, local bus service, fast food resturants, medical diagnostics, mfg and assembly jobs etc. will be all gone. Future Shock by Alvin Toffler!

Society and government infrastructure is not developed to handle this incredible change.
**
Economists forecast an 83% chance that workers earning less than $20 per hour will lose their jobs to robots.**

Wage earners who receive up to $40 in hourly pay face a 31% chance they’ll be replaced by robots, while workers who are paid more than $40 an hour face much lower odds – about 4 percent – of losing their jobs to automation.

The estimates underscore the myriad threats facing low-wage workers in America, who in recent years have been buffeted by stagnant wages, decreasing employment prospects and higher education costs if they wish to obtain additional credentials in pursuit of better-paying jobs.

So what happens to these unemployed people. Does society allow them to die off in mass starvation and sickness?

Look at all the industries/ jobs of the past that have been lost to technology, I dont remember many people complaining or trying to stop the change…?

If you start down this road technology will plateau and we will not progress at all.

 

[Abynissa]

@mikekle

Well, since most of the mfg jobs have been outsourced to Communist Red China, the remaining low end jobs will be eliminated. The more AI and robots increase Moores law, it will wipe away huge segment of the employment population. There will less consumer buying, huge rise in unemployment. If every job is eliminated, how does one make a living? And of course all the experts, economists and technology researchers, don’t know what they are talking about when they are warning we will soon crossover pass the point of no return.

 

[AbideWithMe]

There are going to be a lot of unemployed truck drivers (and cab drivers) in the near future. We’re going to have to figure out something to do about that.

They can learn to care for and drive the Clydesdales.

 

[Monte_RCMS]

Look at all the industries/ jobs of the past that have been lost to technology, I dont remember many people complaining or trying to stop the change…?

If you start down this road technology will plateau and we will not progress at all.

Used to happen all the time.

Look up the history of the word “sabotage” … sabots are wooden shoes … weavers used to throw their wooden shoes iinto their new automated power looms.

There are other examples as well.

 

[Rosebud77]

This is the scariest thing I have read or seen since the broomstick going crazy in Fantasia,

 

[twf]

This is the scariest thing I have read or seen since the broomstick going crazy in Fantasia,

I’m sure a century ago people said the same thing about trucks in general…way too much power under the hood…why not stick with horses?

 

[Catholic_farmer]

Colorado legalized pot and the rate of traffic accidents has increased, with high drivers being the biggest factor. Perhaps it’s not such a bad idea for them.

I lived in Colorado for many years and the brewery in question is right off the highway in a rural area. As a matter of fact, you could see them driving the horse team over the overpass sometimes. Their on ramp and off ramp is very simple. Not surprised they tried it there.