Driver-less Trucks And The Future Of Trucking

I was wondering the same thing as the person who started this thread... I'm almost old enough to drive OTR and I don't want to be out of work by the time I'm 35.

Realistically, no profession is going to have a guarantee that it will be there when you are 35. Look at programming, engineering, biology, medicine, law, etc. Trucking will be no different. However, now is the time in which you can make good money in trucking without spending 4 years at a university. Kid you not, lab technicians with biology/chemistry bachelor degrees are making $15-$18/hr. Civil Engineers fresh out of college are earning around $25/hr starting. They lose around $40,000 towards college costs and miss out on earning a yearly income. Professions and jobs are like stock, and you just have to know when to invest and when to sell. It would be unwise to expect any profession to be there forever. Case in point, dentists fear the day the R&D field produces a vaccine for carries(cavities) or successfully can market regrowing teeth. Whatever you decide, I wish you the best. It is overwhelming picking through all of those fields out there and looking for the best odds.

I could maybe see an autopilot type feature in future years on straightaway highways like Int 80. Can you imagine driverless trucks on 80 in Wyoming in the winter with ice and 60mph winds??Going over Donners pass, Cabbage patch in Oregon, driving in downtown New Jersey??? This isn't happening in our lifetime..maybe way way off in the future.

Decade at the least.

Will always be an operator in the vehicle. This ain't Star Trek - YET. Even the Millennium Falcon needed a pilot.

And the infrastructure upgrades - sensors on the roads, etc. - is quite awhile off.

Sittin in a comfy cabin - streaming movies, while the truck drives itself. I could go for that.

This discussion comes up WEEKLY. Hence the yawn cat.

Rick