One Step Closer to Self-Driving Trucks (Video)

ATeam · May 26, 2016

akkshole said:
You just give me the impression that you will be happier than a pig in mud to get rid of drivers...I am not against progress but eventually with production/manufacturing all being outsourced...there becomes noone left that has any money to purchase anything.

If your everything-outsourced, no-money theory is correct, would it not already be the case that car sales would be down to a fraction of what they once were? How much outsourcing and job elimination has to happen to see your no-money scenario develop? While much has changed, production and consumption continue, do they not?

It gives me no joy to see a factory shut down or someone lose one's job to technology. But change is exciting. It's fun to imagine the future because when doing so, we foresee the benefits but seldom take the trouble to foresee the down side. It's like parents eyeballing their newborn. High hopes and great things are envisioned for that child's future but the challenges and commitments parents must make to bring the great things about are seldom considered. In many cases, the parents continue through life on cruise control, being more reactive than proactive, and the kids are thereby trained to do the same.

Change is exciting in itself. It disrupts the status quo. It requires personal growth. It requires human beings to adapt to new circumstances. Those who embrace it do better than those who resist it.

This applies to everyone. Microsoft just conceded failure in the smart phone business and laid off 1,800 employees in that division. These tech employees must also be flexible to get back on their feet and move ahead.

OntarioVanMan · May 26, 2016

Mans quest for the better mouse trap is ongoing and relentless....Now I read we are going to Mars...to think a mere 100 yrs ago or so we could not even fly....
#1 tire maker in the world?.....Lego..

OntarioVanMan · Jun 30, 2016

companion Article......
Peter Mills sees an inconsistency. One arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation is recommending two-person crews be required for freight trains as another plans to spend billions to help develop driverless technology for long-haul trucks.

“Anything that tilts the competitive playing field concerns me,” said Mills, chief executive officer of Indiana Rail Road. “We’re very truck-competitive.”

Why Will the Feds Let Robots Drive Trucks but Not Trains?

ATeam · Jul 1, 2016

News broke yesterday that the first fatality attributable to a self-driving car (semi-autonomous) has occurred. It happened in Florida on May 7. The investigation is not yet complete.

Brief account from Tesla, the vehicle manufacturer in question:

What we know is that the vehicle was on a divided highway with Autopilot engaged when a tractor trailer drove across the highway perpendicular to the Model S. Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied. The high ride height of the trailer combined with its positioning across the road and the extremely rare circumstances of the impact caused the Model S to pass under the trailer, with the bottom of the trailer impacting the windshield of the Model S. Had the Model S impacted the front or rear of the trailer, even at high speed, its advanced crash safety system would likely have prevented serious injury as it has in numerous other similar incidents.

Road and Track news article

ABC News story

Tesla provided this info on its blog: "This is the first known fatality in just over 130 million miles where Autopilot was activated. Among all vehicles in the US, there is a fatality every 94 million miles."

In another interesting development the journal Science published its study of consumer moral choices regarding self-driving vehicles. It seems people like self-driving cars that are programmed to save them at all costs in situations where life and death choices must be made that also involve others. They are not so eager to own a self-driving car that would sacrifice them for the greater good of saving a higher number of other lives.

With human driven cars, there may be a few drivers who would sacrifice themselves and/or their passengers for the greater good, but in most cases, in that split-second, the self-preservation instinct directs the human's actions, I would think.With self-driving cars, there is no instinct, there is only the programming.

In a real-world, human driver accident, if ethical decisions are made at all, they are made in an instant in the specific circumstances of that moment. Cars that are programmed in advance to behave in a certain way where the specifics of a possible accident are unknown gives us the ability to think through and make choices about the moral dilemmas in advance.

The most thought provoking headline about this study came from GIZMODO: "Your Self-Driving Car Will Be Programmed to Kill You -- Deal With It"

RoadTime · Jul 1, 2016

One step closer, Two steps back.

Obviously more work is needed and this will be the future. But I do have some reservations about it. The most glaring thing that came to my mind while reading about it, was the distraction factor. The car still expects you as a driver to be watching the road and prepared to act when needed. We can't get drivers to do that now. In a time where distracted drivers are already common place, I see this as creating even more opportunities for distraction.
Although, personally looking forward to this technology as it develops and improves.

Moot · Jul 2, 2016

"Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied."

It is refreshing to see that the engineers at Tesla have programmed some human attributes like excuse making into their self driving cars. When I was a kid I also used the "sun was in my eyes" excuse whenever I missed a fly ball.

Some other Tesla programmed excuses:

Pulled over for erratic driving. Ossafurr, I only had ... umm ... two ... beers.

Open the driver's door, Tessie. I can't do that Dave. I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.

Ragman · Jul 2, 2016

Moot said:
Open the driver's door, Tessie. I can't do that Dave. I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.

Moot · Jul 2, 2016

The Tessie 9000's "eye" could use a pair of these for those brightly lit Florida skies.
.
.

.
Many of the human drivers in Florida wear them.

jaxonviking · Jul 2, 2016

I imagine for the first several years the technology will be limited to long-haul trucks outside of major cities. Rig would be driven to a staging area near the freeway/tollway on the edge of town. Then local driver exits and truck auto-drives off. Hundreds of miles later, it sends a message that it's nearing a staging area and needs a driver for in-town. Driver meets waiting truck and drives it to the plant or warehouse on crowded urban roads. Of course, a rural plant like Toyota Truck/Princeton, IN would simply send/receive robot trucks directly with maybe a human driver to guide it around inside the plant grounds.

For example, a staging facility out by Lake Station, IN would be large enough to have a comfort facility for drivers with toilets, wi-fi, food, lounge. As robot trucks arrive from points east, waiting local drivers are assigned a vehicle and drive it to its destination in Chicagoland. Or arrive from various parts of the metro area and leave the truck to self-drive to points east on 80/90 or 94. Computers keep track of where local drivers are located so they can find their way to robot trucks needing to be staged. Dedicated shuttle services or Uber cars take drivers to the various facilities where they're needed, or home if they're "stranded." Smartphones are key to the logistics of this.

Plants out in little towns would still use human drivers, though those drivers might only deliver the trailer to a staging area near a big city to be mated with a robot truck to go any significant distance. Basically, long-range routes like Laredo -> Chicago would be entirely automated, short-to-medium routes remain manual. Wapakoneta, OH -> Toledo is too short to make the robots economical, so that would be done by a human driver the entire distance.

ATeam · Aug 16, 2016

Another step forward. As some predicted, taxi drivers are on the way out. Ford to Offer Self-Driving Cars Without Steering Wheel by 2021

ATeam · Aug 18, 2016

Uber is putting 100 autonomous (self-driving) vehicles (taxis) on the road in Pittsbugh THIS MONTH.

Uber also just bought the self-driving truck company that was mentioned in the originating post of this thread.

Details here

Grizzly · Jul 30, 2018

Uber’s self-driving trucks division is dead, long live Uber self-driving cars

davekc · Jul 31, 2018

It is never about the technology. It is about the litigation. Who do you sue if one is killed? The carrier, the vehicle manufacturer, the programmer, the city with inoperable road sensors? The list is endless. Gets tricky when there is no driver. Long way to go in my opinion.

pelgrn · Aug 1, 2018

I agree with Dave the tech is there and overall may promote safer roads,when there's a mishap or even a tough choice will the computer know not to hit the kid on the bike if there's a out that may put the truck and it's shipment in danger? if your the kids parents how do you feel about a computer making the decision to take out the kid when there may have been another option or slight chance the out may have avoided a death or injury to a human being.

tumbleweeds · Aug 2, 2018

Moot said:
davekc said:

Looks like a bonanza for fleet owners.

Click to expand...

Davekc: Hello, HAL. Do you read me, HAL?

HAL: Affirmative, Dave. I read you.

Davekc: Bring the truck home. Hal?

HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

Davekc: What's the problem?

HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.

Very well done. Cracked me up!!!

tumbleweeds · Aug 2, 2018

I am excited about the self driving trucks. Progress is on the march. I just hope Apple gets involved. It will send their stock into the stratosphere. Maybe I can drive from my iPhone. Can’t wait. Now gotta teach my iPad to tarp.

Ethan Scott · Sep 3, 2018

Wow..this was an impressive move by Otto. Reminded me of some iron man stuff going around. Here I imagine what Google might be thinking or trying to do to overtake Otto.

Man, they're everywhere and look where technology is leading us. The question is, will self-driving cars overrun the future?