Self-Driving Trucks

The US trucking industry is ripe for disruption. The role of a driver is minimal as it is: s/he has to just steer the truck along the highway, with periodic fuel stops. There's nothing preventing an automated system from doing the same. Self-driving cars may be years away, but self-driving trucks which automatically attach themselves to trailers, drive 2500 miles and drop them off, only to do the same in return, 24x7 ? That'll be huge.

Driverless trucking encompasses a large numbers of usage in between full autonomy everywhere and no autonomy at all.For example, fully autonomous trucks which only work on highway with special equipment on the side could already be worth it. Long haul drivers can’t drive without stopping, can make mistakes and it’s not a very pleasant job. If you could only use a driver for the last few miles, that’s a huge gain.You are mistaking a failure of your imagination for an absence of possibilitie

Truck driver is the most common profession in most states. Self-driving trucks will make their jobs obsolete overnight. Imagine the immediate effect of all those people being without a job. What will happen to retail when those truckers buy less or stop buying? What will happen to wholesale shortly after? What will happen to all other industries? That truck drivers keep their jobs, or that they are gradually able to transition into new ones, is not just necessary not to feel bad about them, but

Truck drivers do a lot more than just turn a steering wheel. While autonomous driving might alter hiring in the field (especially if it gets to the point where you don't need someone with a CDL to do those tasks), it's unlikely that the number of people employed in trucking is going down anytime soon.

You forgot about full self driving cars. Last time I've checked truckers were still moving goods and ride hailing vehicles were still ooerated by a human.

Drivers can’t drive 24/7. This cuts down on time to destination significantly if the truck can keep going. Perhaps this can augment the driver, where driver provides handling, gas, etc. while the truck self drives.

There was recently a blog post analyzing exactly this: "Self-Driving Trucks Are Going to Hit Us Like a Human-Driven Truck" https://medium.com/basic-income/self-driving-trucks-are-goin...It was intensely discussed on HN as well <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9555295" rel="nofol

There are self driving trucking companies.

Maybe transport & trucking needs to be automated. If there's a lack of labourers, why not fill in the gaps with self-driving semis?

THis will be moot in a few years when automated cars are in place, truckers will be begging for jobs.