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[TheGameshark]

It's only a matter of time before these trucks become sentient and deliver Busweiser directly to the local dump.

lol

 

[hokahey]

There will be a transitionary period. In the meantime, future truck drivers will instead focus on a different career path.

 

[sixteen-bit]

sneak peak

the phrase is actually "sneak peek"

 

[Window]

Interesting times ahead. I don't believe that the advances in technology will create as many new jobs as they destroy old ones this time round because all professions are susceptible to automatization and digitalization.

I guess the big question for the next generation (if not our generation actualy) will be how to redistribute wealth from the machines to the people. Have a feeling that no party or politician around the world wants to make a serious effort to touch that topic in the foreseeable future what with all the big corporation lobbyism and so on.

If everybody is unemployed, who will purchase these corporations products/services? While they may not be interested in the welfare of society they wouldn't actively campaign against it either as I think would most companies prefer a state of high economic growth and employment. Though maybe I'm putting too much faith in corporate interests to consider the macroeconomy. I'm also not convinced that we're anywhere close to completely automating or digitising all or even most professions in the next few decades.

 

[Drakeon]

Truck driver is the most popular job in several US states. Not good.

That profession is going to go extinct within the next 15-20 years (and I'm being generous with that guess).

Hard to say how to make up for that loss of jobs, but it's something we have to come to terms with as more and more things become automated and there are just less jobs out there.

 

[ChouGoku]

Get humans off the road as fast as possible. If everyone was in an autonomous car and even if 10000 people a year died, it would still be much better than people driving

 

[God Dayumm]

Unless they program the truck to fight back. It will be like Mad Max meets Maximum Overdrive. Hijackers have to overcome the AI defense systems and defensive driving of a cold computer controlled AI.

And the auto-explode if all else fails

 

[Muppet of a Man]

It's only a matter of time before these trucks become sentient and deliver Busweiser directly to the local dump.

Hahaha! Perfect.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

The true recipients of the "They took our jerbs!!!" manta: Corporate executives.

 

[Derwind]

I would like to think that this does not make truck drivers obsolete but makes their job easier and safer as I think some sort of on-site human supervision (kind of like air-plane pilots) is maybe still necessary. Though I'm not sure for how long that will be the case.

The irony is, commercially it's going to impossible not to have a human handler, the auto-pilot feature is mostly a safety feature but the blowback to something like this is going to come from people's misguided notions that this will make them obsolete.

Only way this makes them obsolete is if your government representative doesn't push legislation requiring a human handler as a safety feature.

Plus you still need people to load and offload the trucks.

 

[kswiston]

There will be a transitionary period. In the meantime, future truck drivers will instead focus on a different career path.

I think the issue is that breakthroughs in machine learning/AI will eventually (and by eventually, I mean this century) lead to a time where practically every job can be done as good or better by machines. A lot of people don't care at the moment, because it's mostly low skilled/low paying jobs that are seeing automation, but what do you go back to school to retrain for when robots and computers are also handling the large majority of the skilled/highly skilled labour?

Automation is an inevitability. The issue is how we handle to the financial benefits derived from automation. Continuing to push education/retraining as the be-all-end-all solution to automated industries making people obsolete is not going to work for all that much longer.

Plus you still need people to load and offload the trucks.

That's not going to last much longer than manual driving.

 

[chuckddd]

Presumably the same thing coal miners, steel workers, manufacturing employees, and telegraph operators had to do.

Blame the democrats and vote Trump?

 

[Septimus Prime]

The truck driver's new job is to sit in the cargo with a gun. Everyone wins.

 

[Window]

I wonder how trade and contract negotiations will work out between AI agents representing different agendas.

 

[besada]

I even wonder if we will end up with a network of navigators that hop on to manage local traffic on one side of a big city, then exit on the other side and let the truck get back to self-driving for the huge interstate expanses. Like ships.

I suspect it'll wind up more like train engineers, who ride in the cab and make adjustments as they go along. Take away having to control direction, but still have someone controlling speed where necessary, and available to take over tricky spots.

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

What are the millions of drivers going to do when their jobs become obsolete?

Find another job? They could find the nearest telephone booth and call ITT tech.

There are potential benefits, unseen, for companies that lower their transportation costs. They could reinvest into other areas. You just don't know. But not knowing is no reason to avoid progress.

And we are operating on a global scale. Some places will not be able to compete and manufacturing could increase, for all we know. The duty hours for truck drivers is sure to change. Cheap driving, that happens overnight? That may impact congestion.

Either way, don't assume you know how things will hash out.

 

[SaganIsGOAT]

Find a new profession, like we've been doing since the dawn of civilization

That's easy to say if you are educated or have skills but there are always people left behind when technology eliminates these types of jobs.

This is inevitable but the loss in jobs is going to be disruptive.

I have the same view on this as I do on the change to renewable energy. You don't just toss these people to the wayside, you find ways to educate them and move them into these new jobs. How that is done? idk lol

 

[Locke Lamora]

When I read the title I was really surprised that OTTO.de would cooperate with Budweiser...

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

I have the same view on this as I do on the change to renewable energy. You don't just toss these people to the wayside, you find ways to educate them and move them into these new jobs. How that is done? idk lol

More reason to re-evaluate our educational system and turn back the clock on debt, in relation to getting an education.

 

[Polari]

I suspect it'll wind up more like train engineers, who ride in the cab and make adjustments as they go along. Take away having to control direction, but still have someone controlling speed where necessary, and available to take over tricky spots.

It would only be for a transition period I would've thought, although it could be quite a long transition.

 

[kswiston]

I suspect it'll wind up more like train engineers, who ride in the cab and make adjustments as they go along. Take away having to control direction, but still have someone controlling speed where necessary, and available to take over tricky spots.

Even that is going to be temporary. Maybe one more generation of jobs. Barring some world breakdown, I will be very surprised if people are driving cars/trucks outside of enthusiast settings by 2050. All (new) cars will have the capacity to self drive at least 20-25 years prior to that. How many tech generations is it going to take to work out whatever self-driven car bugs exist? At least to the point that having a human driver doesn't make things any safer?

 

[AndyD]

I suspect it'll wind up more like train engineers, who ride in the cab and make adjustments as they go along. Take away having to control direction, but still have someone controlling speed where necessary, and available to take over tricky spots.

Perhaps. Hard to say if it's necessary though long term.

 

[Ziltoidia 9]

I bet they don't even return the savings to the customer. So much of a middle class gets screwed and the only one that benefits are people with wealth already.

par.

 

[Earthstrike]

I bet they don't even return the savings to the customer. So much of a middle class gets screwed and the only one that benefits are people with wealth already.

par.

trucking companies tend to serve businesses, who are absolutely vicious about reducing costs. If a trucking company tries to hold onto its profits, they will lose customers to trucking companies that pass some of the cost savings to their clients. Those clients will then pass or not pass on the savings depending on how competitive their industry is.

 

[LegendofJoe]

Too many people are focusing on the negatives of self-driving vehicles. Imagine your kid growing up in a world where you don't have to worry about them getting in a car with someone intoxicated behind the wheel. Or not having to pay the teenage driver insurance premium. Or having the ability to get by with one car instead of two. Or not spending an extra hour in traffic once a week because of an accident.

The quality of life improvements that will come from this technology will be incredible.

 

[besada]

How many tech generations is it going to take to work out whatever self-driven car bugs exist? At least to the point that having a human driver doesn't make things any safer?

A lot. AI driving systems rely on limited sensory data, among other things. Until they do it as well as a human a human guide will be useful in edge cases. Even if it's just someone on a chicken brake, who stops the truck from slamming over a kid curled up into a ball in the middle of the road that looks like a turtle to a lidar set.

Life and death decisions are left up to every driver, and I suspect we'll want a human decision maker able to override the computer in most of these systems. You might get away with a single human overseeing multiple rigs remotely, but between the pressure to keep people working (important to companies if they want to sell products) and safety concerns, I suspect it will be a long while before you see fully autonomous trucks.

I could be wrong, but since trains have basically been able to be fully autonomous for decades and aren't, I don't see why we'd handle trucks significantly differently. The engineer is in the train, not to drive it, but to oversee the machinery and make decisions. He's there because we want a human with their hand on the button if something goes wrong. I don't see that changing soon.

 

[To Far Away Times]

How?

Serious question.

Not saying it should neccisarily be illegal... but roughly 1 in 7 jobs in the U.S. are either trucking jobs or jobs that support the trucking industry.

 

[Lakershead22]

I don't like this one bit. My dad is a truck driver so if this takes off I don't know what my dad will do.

 

[davepoobond]

I would like to think that this does not make truck drivers obsolete but makes their job easier and safer as I think some sort of on-site human supervision (kind of like air-plane pilots) is maybe still necessary. Though I'm not sure for how long that will be the case.

There is a shortage of drivers

More percentage of truck drivers are over 60 years old than ever before - safety concerns


This is the best thing for society IMO

 

[Living the Dream]

How much does your average truck driver make anyways?

A lot. AI driving systems rely on limited sensory data, among other things. Until they do it as well as a human a human guide will be useful in edge cases. Even if it's just someone on a chicken brake, who stops the truck from slamming over a kid curled up into a ball in the middle of the road that looks like a turtle to a lidar set.

Life and death decisions are left up to every driver, and I suspect we'll want a human decision maker able to override the computer in most of these systems. You might get away with a single human overseeing multiple rigs remotely, but between the pressure to keep people working (important to companies if they want to sell products) and safety concerns, I suspect it will be a long while before you see fully autonomous trucks.

I could be wrong, but since trains have basically been able to be fully autonomous for decades and aren't, I don't see why we'd handle trucks significantly differently. The engineer is in the train, not to drive it, but to oversee the machinery and make decisions. He's there because we want a human with their hand on the button if something goes wrong. I don't see that changing soon.

Add planes to this too. I don't think the general populace is aware that planes fly themselves.

 

[Window]

I don't like this one bit. My dad is a truck driver so if this takes off I don't know what my dad will do.

I can understand your concerns but I think chances are he will retire before needing to worry about a replacement job. Regardless there definitely need to be better provisions in place for assisting displaced employees throughout the economy. It's an issue too often ignored.

 

[FreddieQuell]

The irony is, commercially it's going to impossible not to have a human handler, the auto-pilot feature is mostly a safety feature but the blowback to something like this is going to come from people's misguided notions that this will make them obsolete.

Only way this makes them obsolete is if your government representative doesn't push legislation requiring a human handler as a safety feature.

Plus you still need people to load and offload the trucks.

The end goal is for self driving cars to be safer than a human driver, so how is a human going to act as a safety feature?

 

[Living the Dream]

I can understand your concerns but I think chances are he will retire before needing to worry about a replacement job. Regardless there definitely need to be better provisions in place for assisting displaced employees throughout the economy. It's an issue too often ignored.

Companies don't care "let the government figure it out"

 

[kswiston]

A lot. AI driving systems rely on limited sensory data, among other things. Until they do it as well as a human a human guide will be useful in edge cases. Even if it's just someone on a chicken brake, who stops the truck from slamming over a kid curled up into a ball in the middle of the road that looks like a turtle to a lidar set.

Life and death decisions are left up to every driver, and I suspect we'll want a human decision maker able to override the computer in most of these systems. You might get away with a single human overseeing multiple rigs remotely, but between the pressure to keep people working (important to companies if they want to sell products) and safety concerns, I suspect it will be a long while before you see fully autonomous trucks.

I could be wrong, but since trains have basically been able to be fully autonomous for decades and aren't, I don't see why we'd handle trucks significantly differently. The engineer is in the train, not to drive it, but to oversee the machinery and make decisions. He's there because we want a human with their hand on the button if something goes wrong. I don't see that changing soon.

I don't think planes and trains are quite as analogous. Planes fly in mostly empty space. Trains are on a fixed track and take the same routes. The basic operation of both could be automated before automated sensory recognition was even in its infancy. Obviously the human pilots/engineers continued to act as the sensory computation during this automation. Self-Driving cars required a much more mature sensory recognition system just to get into the proof of concept stage.

The automated recognition of visual sensory data might still be in its nascent stage now, but that will rapidly improve if we are talking about a scale of decades. Compare the capabilities of today's smart phones (mass consumer devices that cost $100-800 at retail) versus many of the incorporated technologies in 1996. Where were voice/sound and text recognition, automatic image stabilization, handheld GPS, and other technologies 20 years ago? How much improvement will we see in the realm of visual pattern recognition in the next 20 years? Today's 20-24 year old starting truck driver needs a job for 40-50 years.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

Heck, the self-driving company is called Otto.

 

[Skellig Gra]

Heck, the system is called Otto.

My name is Otto and I love to get blotto

 

[EXPotemkin]

I actually want to get a job in this field soon. Working at a desk is incredibly boring and nowhere near as lucrative as I've been told it is.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

This should be illegal. The economy is going to be destroyed if they allow this continue.

Won't someone please think of those poor horse drawn carriage operators, elevator operators, travel agents, telegram operators, etc!

 

[FyreWulff]

The cynic in me wonders if people start hijacking them.

You're already not allowed to have any firearms in your truck as a driver partly because it could escalate a hijacking situation

 

[DrForester]

Did it self navigate the entire trip, or just the highway portion? We aren't to the point where a trailer truck could navigate streets yet, are we?

While the 120-mile drive isn't quite Texarkana to Atlanta, that Otto's autonomous tractor trailer negotiated both Denver's traffic and the windy, mountainous Interstate 25 freeway sans driver is impressive.

Not to be a killjoy, but I-25 between Fort Collins and Colorado Springs is neither windy, or mountainous. That's I-70.

 

[FyreWulff]

I don't like this one bit. My dad is a truck driver so if this takes off I don't know what my dad will do.

Still need someone to handle loading/unloading and sign off. This will mostly just take the 'busywork' of the in between destination driving off their hands.

I also see transitions to "truck trains" where the driver drives a lead truck in a 2-4 truck long train of semis. It would be a lot safter than double trailer or triple trailers which of all the truck drivers i know they all fucking hate driving.

 

[rootbeerafloat]

windy, mountainous Interstate 25 freeway

lol

 

[Rentahamster]

This should be illegal. The economy is going to be destroyed if they allow this continue.

Tell me about. I hear the war stories the last time the economy crashed from the great horse and carriage layoffs were horrifying.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

The truck driver's new job is to sit in the cargo with a gun. Everyone wins.

well, you can't legally drive a vehicle without a human in the driver seat, so it's not like this drive wasn't actually done without a human driver on stand-by. Nor would it mean than any other trucker is likely to actually lose his job anytime soon, since legal regulations (at least here in the EU) clearly forbid that scenario as is. Maybe in a decade, when we know the actual incident rate and not the arbitrary mathematics on a highly controlled test environment. Until then, truckers will still have a job.

However, with the truck mostly driving unaided, it might be a good time to catch up some Kierkegaard, Kant, Hume on the side. I foresee great things on the 'philosophy on the road' genre. Our generation is overdue on its own Zen And The Art Of AI Truck Maintenance anyway.
Or the same title, except with "And Zombies" added to it. A self-driving vehicle really takes the fun out of the zombie apocalypse. Particularly if it were fully solar powered. By the time the horde catches up, you're recharged and wheeling off again. Until you get a flat tire (screwed!). Or run out of food, because your dumb ass forgot to grow something on the damn vehicle. But seriously, fully self-sufficient solar powered AI vehicle? Eat a dick, zombies.
I like playing this game of evolution in my head a bit too much though. Someone wanna adopt a setting for nanowrimo?

 

[Bsigg12]

Did it self navigate the entire trip, or just the highway portion? We aren't to the point where a trailer truck could navigate streets yet, are we?



Not to be a killjoy, but I-25 between Fort Collins and Colorado Springs is neither windy, or mountainous. That's I-70.

What about that super treacherous stretch between Loveland and Foco?! I have never had to drive so safely in a straight line in my life!

On a serious note, I think the craziest part would be when it hit Thornton around Highway 7 and drove down through the tech center. Between construction and some real shit drivers it could have been something.

 

[Monocle]

It's only a matter of time before these trucks become sentient and deliver Busweiser directly to the local dump.

Nice.

 

[DiscoJer]

I have the same view on this as I do on the change to renewable energy. You don't just toss these people to the wayside, you find ways to educate them and move them into these new jobs. How that is done? idk lol

The problem is that you can't simply educate most people and get them a new job. Most people are of average intelligence or less. They aren't going to be coders or scientists or engineers.

It's not like the first wave of industrialization, where you had buggy drivers and blacksmiths and such losing their jobs, because they could get factory jobs.

And on the other end you have Amazon and its ilk trying to kill retail, and retail is often dominated by really crappy chains like WalMart

It's probably going to be a bleak future economically for much of the country, and eventually world.

 

[ZackieChan]

Are truck hijackings an actual issue, as people itt are making them out to be? Is this something that happens with regularity, outside of Breaking Bad and Fast and Furious movies?

 

[Pops Maellard]

TFW FoCo was even more beer obsessed than you previously knew.

 

[SapientWolf]

The end goal is for self driving cars to be safer than a human driver, so how is a human going to act as a safety feature?

One way would be to compare sensor data to the actual environment to detect a systems failure that could turn deadly. It is unlikely that both the person and the truck would make the same errors at the same time.

The completely driverless scenario may not be optimal with current solutions. The technology is too new to test out all the edge cases. For example, Tesla's white truck issue wouldn't have caused a fatality with human intervention.