Profile For Rollr 4.

Good luck and hopefully it all works out for you. Definitely keep us updated on your journey with Schneider. I’ve been thinking about going with Schneider once I get my CDL as well, and am in the same boat with you as far as worrying about lack of employment history. Hopefully they can work around that for you and it all goes good.

I would like to see an autonomous truck navigate, and back congested city streets, docking areas, etc. And bump some of the docks that I have seen and I am barely a rookie. There are certain aspects of the whole process of the trip that require human interaction, that the "computer" is simply incapable of doing.

There are certain aspects of the whole process of the trip that require human interaction, that the "computer" is simply incapable of doing.

There are a ton of scenarios that computers aren't going to be able to handle. For instance, say there's something in the road ahead. What is it? Can a computer identify it accurately and then decide the most prudent course of action?

Is it a large piece of plastic floating across the highway in the wind or is it a person?

Is it a gator (a tire carcass) in the road or just a plastic bag?

If there is a deer on the shoulder walking toward your lane of the highway, what should you do? Should you hit your horn to scare it off? Should you get in the hammer lane hoping it doesn't run in front of you? Should you run it over, sad as that is, because the roads are too slick and crowded to take evasive action?

This is just one super simple example of how difficult it can be to determine what is in the road and what action should be taken. There are thousands of possible scenarios to consider and almost every possibility would have to be programmed in manually. At some point the most prudent action would be to run over an animal. Who is going to program a computer to purposely kill a living creature? What if it misidentifies that deer and it's actually a person it chooses to run over instead of going off the highway into a field?

Those are all really good points. I’ve seen those types of scenarios brought up the most when I see discussions and I think they might be some of the more convincing aspects of why it can’t realistically happen.

if there’s a driver shortage you want to fix saying you plan on replacing drivers with automation isn’t going to help the problem it’s just going to scare people away

It's not the trucking industry that's putting out all this hype about self-driving trucks, it's tech companies and researchers and science magazines and people of that nature.

I guess you’re right there, I keep automatically jumping to thinking the trucking industry is for it but I don’t think I’ve actually seen anything that says that’s the case.

There will always be a need for a driver/operater.

The responses here are helping to be the voice of reason for me and that I probably have nothing to worry about, but still I hope you’re right that there will always be a need for a driver.

I beg to differ. The fear, uncertainty and doubt created by all the hype IS having an impact - young people are ruling out driving careers as a viable option because they perceive it as a dead-end. " Oh noes! Why invest three weeks of my life to get a CDL when the trucks are just going to drive themselves?" This combined with retiring baby boomers is shrinking the pool of available drivers at a time when demand for drivers is at an all-time high. Look for massive signing bonuses, higher cpm rates and improved benefits to continue for the foreseeable future.

That’s something I wondered about too, to me if there’s a driver shortage you want to fix saying you plan on replacing drivers with automation isn’t going to help the problem it’s just going to scare people away from that industry and make a larger problem until you can actually get the automation in working order. But then again while I’m worried about the possibility of it I’m still wanting to get my cdl and make a career in trucking happen, so I’m sure regardless of what the outcome is there’s others who feel the same way and will still strive for a career in trucking.

most of the articles I saw looked like they were written about a year ago if not a little more than a year so I was just wondering if the opinions on self driving trucks had changed since then with all the news about it lately

Heck no. Nothing has changed. All of the "news" about self-driving vehicles is little more than tech companies and universities trying to build hype to raise money for their startups or their research. They keep promising, "We're on the edge of a major breakthrough" to create a sense of urgency. They want investors with deep pockets to think that if they get in on it now and make a big investment they might just be part of the team that takes over the world with self driving vehicles. It's an investor's equivalent of striking oil or hitting the jackpot in Vegas.

Self-driving trucks are not going to have any impact on trucking for a very long time. Like I've said, trains and airplanes are going to be automated before big rigs will and that hasn't happened yet even though the technology has been there for decades.

I see what you mean, I guess that’s where the worry comes in for me. Seeing all these stories all of a sudden about it, but that makes sense that it’s all just hype to try and get backers and all that. That’s a good point I usually don’t see brought up when people debate on whether or not it’ll happen.

Roller 4, check out this piece that Brett wrote on the subject of Self Driving Trucks.

You can also put "Self driving trucks" in the search bar at the top of this page and find a lot of information, including several past conversations we've had on the subject.

And welcome aboard! Hang around a bit, you'll be glad you did.

Thank you for the quick reply. I had searched a little bit about the topic on here and most of the articles I saw looked like they were written about a year ago if not a little more than a year so I was just wondering if the opinions on self driving trucks had changed since then with all the news about it lately. I guess I must’ve originally missed the post you linked though, and after giving it a read it really puts it into perspective and brings up some good points that are overlooked. It’s pretty reassuring. I think I agree with most that it won’t happen anytime soon, but just seeing how much technology has changed and advanced a part of me is worried but maybe there is no reason to be worried. And thank you for the welcome, I plan on it. I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface of what this site has to offer, but so far it seems promising and has been extremely helpful.

I created an account a little while ago but haven’t used it much, I’ve looked around on here and it has been extremely useful as far as finding information on trucking company training programs and studying for my cdl. I’m not sure if this is the right place to post this but it’s been worrying me and I was wanting to get some opinions on it and see everyone’s views of it.

I’ve posted about it before on other sites and the responses seemed mixed, most said it’ll never happen or it could take decades to happen, and all the variables that would realistically keep it from happening, and others think it’ll happen within the next five years. So my question is what is everyone’s thoughts on self driving/autonomous trucks and do you think they’ll realistically happen and if so anytime soon?

It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to become a truck driver and I’ll be 21 end of this year so I can finally make that a reality, but I keep seeing all these news stories and articles about self driving trucks and how they hope to have them implemented on the road and doing deliveries by 2025 and it worries me because by the time I can actually get into trucking it’ll be happening.

And I’m just wondering if me and other new drivers actually have anything to worry about or if this is just some fad that will die off and can’t realistically happen yet. I know they talk about this being a solution to driver shortage but I’m just worried there won’t be any trucking jobs for me to get into or i'll get into it and not even a year in be told they don’t need me or other drivers anymore because of the self driving trucks. I know no one can say for sure if it’ll happen or not and when, but I see a lot of people who say it won’t happen base it on their lifetime and in a lot of cases that’s a huge difference than someone who wants to get into trucking in their early twenties. Sorry if this posts a bit of a mess, wasn’t sure if I should add some background info too.

Thank you to everyone who responds.