Opinions On Self-driving Trucks Please!

Roy...do you want to be a truck driver? If so, we can and will help you.

Otherwise my debating with you on this subject is done; it’s a waste of time. All you seem to care about is promoting something that is decades away from mass adoption and will eventually become another prime target for Cyber-Terror.

I read your bio in the “what I used to do” thread. You are clearly highly educated, have multiple sheepskins and likely believe you are always the smartest person in the room. After all that is how you conduct yourself in this thread.

Nothing I or Brett have offered to you was ever seriously considered. We don’t have a PhD so our replies to you lack credibility. Any attempt on my part to suggest how to improve safety will be met by counter-arguments based on academics not practicality. You know better...

I’ll help you become a real truck driver...but cease from further exchanges on incubator technology.

Roy, the promise of computers being smarter than humans and automating most of our lives has fallen way, way short of expectations for decades, and continues to.

Human nutrition is largely unknown because of the complete impossibility of ever being able to perform controlled experiments on humans

Oh really??? So science hasn't been experimenting on humans to learn more about nutrition? How deep is that hole you've been living in????

Taste is a question of neurology and biochemistry, not something that can be computed.

Interesting, but so is the human nervous system which is how we perceive and interpret the world around using our senses and our brain, which is what you're hoping computers will be able to duplicate. They're a long, long way from making that happen.

the undeniable fact is that there are several prototype vehicles on the road today that perform quite well

Right, except for a few minor glitches from time to time, like when they failed to detect an entire tractor trailer that was completely blocking the road and drove straight into it, killing the driver. Or when they failed to detect a woman walking her bicycle across the road and ran her over and killed her.

Yeah, sounds like they're right on the edge of having this down pat, huh?

Like I said, build me something that can reliably mow my lawn or pick up dog poop and I'll be impressed.

You take the optimistic approach of judging the technology by its theoretical potential. I take the realistic approach of judging the current state of a technology based upon its failures. In your approach anything is possible and we're always on the brink of doing mind boggling things. In my approach it seems we still can't reliably detect a tractor trailer or a human being, nor can we figure out how to mow my lawn or pick up dog poop.

But no worries. We don't have to agree because 50 years from now we'll still be having this same conversation, wondering when autonomous cars are going to take over for us.

But no worries. We don't have to agree because 50 years from now we'll still be having this same conversation, wondering when autonomous cars are going to take over for us.

And apparently, Roy will still be posting about the benefits.

Roy1024, You have a lot of facts, figures and ideas that do not apply to the common idea at hand. Either you do not know what your talking about or just want to post long answers to an issue. You states the large increase in fatalities involving trucks in an 8 year span but why not figure in the increased amount of drivers and vehicles on the road? How about the number of 4 wheelers doing everything in their cars from eating, putting on make up, CELL PHONE talking and just plain bad driving and too fast for any condition? If you want to write a book just do it but get all the facts and keep your responses short.

Hi All, I’ve been a long time viewer here as I have been considering a career change to trucking. Still am but found a local job that fits for now. I’m not a driver at this time but work around trucks and run heavy equipment. I just wanted to toss a anothe thought into the ring about this self driving thing.

Current tech is all reactive. Meaning each vehicle has to observe and decide. The window of decision is only a few vehicle lengths away and usually limited in visibility. This reactive system will never be safe enough I believe. Until there is a control system that all vehicles on the road share and communicate through so they will all know what’s happening in real time in front, behind and miles down the road, safe autonomy will not be happening. That’s a huge infrastructure change. As drivers we do this.. we listen to the CB, watch the road and the weather. A driver has to be proactive and any system attempting to replace or supplement must be that as well. I don’t see any of that happening very soon. Just my 2¢. Thanks for reading and stay safe,

Greg

Until there is a control system that all vehicles on the road share and communicate through so they will all know what’s happening in real time in front, behind and miles down the road, safe autonomy will not be happening. That’s a huge infrastructure change.

Greg

Bingo.

Until every vehicle on the road is linked to each other and the road, traffic signals MUCH LIKE TRAINS, it will never be as safe as it is currently. We would need an infrastructure like trains or slot cars, where every vehicle can sense exactly where the lanes, turns, traffic devices, etc. are, and where every other vehicle is and what those vehicles are about to do.

Until there is a control system that all vehicles on the road share and communicate through so they will all know what’s happening in real time in front, behind and miles down the road, safe autonomy will not be happening. That’s a huge infrastructure change.

Greg

Sorry, that should read:

Bingo.

Until every vehicle on the road is linked to each other and the road, traffic signals, etc., MUCH LIKE TRAINS, it will never be as safe as it is currently. We would need an infrastructure like trains or slot cars, where every vehicle can sense exactly where the lanes, turns, traffic devices, etc. are, and where every other vehicle is and what those vehicles are about to do.

Until there is a control system that all vehicles on the road share and communicate through so they will all know what’s happening in real time in front, behind and miles down the road, safe autonomy will not be happening. That’s a huge infrastructure change.

Greg

Bingo.

Until every vehicle on the road is linked to each other and the road, traffic signals MUCH LIKE TRAINS, it will never be as safe as it is currently. We would need an infrastructure like trains or slot cars, where every vehicle can sense exactly where the lanes, turns, traffic devices, etc. are, and where every other vehicle is and what those vehicles are about to do.

There is a "platooning" software that has been tested, and is in limited use, on class 8 vehicles in certain areas of the country. It is, I believe the closest we will ever get to a "driverless" truck. A human driver is still, and always will be, required.

There is a "platooning" software that has been tested, and is in limited use, on class 8 vehicles in certain areas of the country.

Ah yes, one of my favorite disaster scenarios. File this one under, "Which insane computer guys thought this made sense, and how did they convince everyone else to approve it????"

Platooning means they're going to run trucks nose to tail, real tight together, in order to save fuel through "drafting" NASCAR style. In this scenario each truck actually has a driver in the truck, but the software is controlling all of the trucks. So if one hits the brakes, they all hit the brakes.

[sarcasm] SURE!!! Sounds perfectly logical and reasonable. I don't see how anything could go wrong. I mean, sure, if something does go wrong you're going to have a pile of destroyed vehicles littering the highway and dead bodies everywhere, but no worries, it's all under the control of computers and we all know you can always rely on computers to work flawlessly at all times. They'll have a wireless network connecting the trucks so the computers can communicate with each other, so no worries there either because wireless networks always work flawlessly and there's no possibility of any sort of disruption. [/sarcasm]

There is a "platooning" software that has been tested, and is in limited use, on class 8 vehicles in certain areas of the country.

Ah yes, one of my favorite disaster scenarios. File this one under, "Which insane computer guys thought this made sense, and how did they convince everyone else to approve it????"

Platooning means they're going to run trucks nose to tail, real tight together, in order to save fuel through "drafting" NASCAR style. In this scenario each truck actually has a driver in the truck, but the software is controlling all of the trucks. So if one hits the brakes, they all hit the brakes.

[sarcasm] SURE!!! Sounds perfectly logical and reasonable. I don't see how anything could go wrong. I mean, sure, if something does go wrong you're going to have a pile of destroyed vehicles littering the highway and dead bodies everywhere, but no worries, it's all under the control of computers and we all know you can always rely on computers to work flawlessly at all times. They'll have a wireless network connecting the trucks so the computers can communicate with each other, so no worries there either because wireless networks always work flawlessly and there's no possibility of any sort of disruption. [/sarcasm]

No arguments there! Unfortunately, some ceo/coo/cfo/PhD/whatever, with no practical driving experience, will decide the "benefits" outweigh the risks, and implement it.