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Joined: May 2001
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 18,345 Likes: 1 |
Pretty wild. Self-Driving Truck Transports 40,000 Pounds Of Butter 2,800 Miles Across The Country
In late November, a Silicon Valley startup took a chance and sent an autonomous truck on a 2,800- mile trek from Tulare, California, to Quakertown, Pennsylvania, carrying 40,000 pounds of Land O’Lakes butter, likely the first commercial freight cross-country trip by an autonomous truck.
It worked. Plus.ai, located in Cupertino, insured the project by equipping the truck with a safety driver who could take over the driving if something went wrong as well as a safety engineer to monitor the ride. Shawn Kerrigan, co-founder and COO of Plus.ai, stated, “We wanted to demonstrate the safety, reliability and maturity of our overall system.”
Kerrigan claimed the system employed cameras, radar and lidar — laser-based technology to help vehicles determine distance, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Breaks were scheduled along the route but most of the journey the truck drove itself. Kerrigan said there were no instances where the self-driving system was suspended. He said Plus.ai has been running freight every week for roughly one year.
Land O’Lakes chief supply officer Yone Dewberry cheered, “To be able to address this peak demand with a fuel-and-cost-effective freight transport solution will be tremendously valuable to our business.”
Popular Mechanics reported of Plus.ai:
The founders, a group of Stanford Ph.D. students, knew that trucking—which has been experiencing a labor shortage since 2003, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)—is the primary method for shipping goods across the U.S. So they decided to apply their artificial intelligence know-how to long-haul trucking, building out the full-stack self-driving technology needed to make a cross country freight trip possible.
The Sentinel added, “Dan Ives, managing director of equity research for Wedbush Securities, predicts there will be quite a few autonomous freight-delivery pilots in 2020 and 2021, with the beginning of a commercial rollout in 2022 … The timeline will depend on regulations, which vary state to state, he said.”
Last year Embark Trucks sent an autonomous truck 2,400 miles across the country but the truck transported no freight. Popular Mechanics noted that according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, there are now 65 companies that hold a California Autonomous Vehicle Testing License.
McKinsey & Company pointed out, “Sixty-five percent of the nation’s consumable goods are trucked to market. With full autonomy, operating costs would decline by about 45 percent, saving the US for-hire trucking industry between $85 billion and $125 billion.”
McKinsey theorized that the rollout of autonomous trucks would be comprised of four waves: The first wave will feature connecting a convoy of trucks wirelessly to a lead truck, which would still require a driver in each truck. In the second wave, roughly five to seven years from now, a driver would inhabit the lead truck and unmanned trucks would follow. A driver would take over when the truck left the highway.
The third wave, seven to ten years from now, would entail unmanned trucks driving the highways and drivers meeting them at the exits to steer them to their destination. The fourth wave, roughly ten years from now, would feature unmanned trucks driving from loading to delivery.
Carpe' Scrotum
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Joined: Oct 2011
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 8,573 |
How are the county mounties gonna ticket them?
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 45,233 Likes: 19
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 45,233 Likes: 19 |
How are the county mounties gonna ticket them? Might cut down on revenue in some places? Geno
The desert is a true treasure for him who seeks refuge from men and the evil of men.
In it is contentment
In it is death and all you seek
(Quoted from "The Bleeding of the Stone" Ibrahim Al-Koni)
member of the cabal of dysfunctional squirrels?
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Joined: Sep 2011
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 45,233 Likes: 19 |
With CDL truckers being one of the industries most needing future workers, how is this new technology going to affect the job market. In a short ten years from now, if their timeline is accurate, how many more unemployed drivers will there be. Right now as I understand it, if you hold a CDL you can find work today. One might not like the job, or the company, but you can find work. Going to be really interesting to see, especially these proposed convoys The first wave will feature connecting a convoy of trucks wirelessly to a lead truck, which would still require a driver in each truck. In the second wave, roughly five to seven years from now, a driver would inhabit the lead truck and unmanned trucks would follow. How much room between trucks will be required so other travelers can pass safely? Will the convoy get bunched up on hills? Will non-autonomous trucks, driven by the same folks there are driving now, try to pass on a grade and not get back into the travel lane and allow faster traffic to pass? And the savings? Will they be passed on to the consumers? (LOL, yeah, right) With full autonomy, operating costs would decline by about 45 percent I foresee problems, then again, maybe it might work for the better in some places, as it's a real pain in the ass to travel at or near the speed limit for non-truck traffic in those states where there are differential limits, when the trucks are supposed to be going 55 mph and regular traffic can legally go 65. Of course, there's always a truck going 62-63 which limits safe areas to pass. Perhaps these autonomous trucks will be set to obey the speed limit, or like some companies now, just kept at a maximum of 55 for fuel savings? Geno
The desert is a true treasure for him who seeks refuge from men and the evil of men.
In it is contentment
In it is death and all you seek
(Quoted from "The Bleeding of the Stone" Ibrahim Al-Koni)
member of the cabal of dysfunctional squirrels?
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Joined: Jan 2006
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,406 Likes: 5 |
How are the county mounties gonna ticket them? I wouldn't want to be in the driver's seat if the truck did something wrong.
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
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Joined: Sep 2010
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 31,428 |
Someday there will be a limited role. I plan to give them a wide berth.
"I can't be canceled, because, I don't give a fuuck!"
--- Kid Rock 2022
Holocaust Deniers, the ultimate perverted dipchits: Bristoe, TheRealHawkeye, stophel, Ghostinthemachine, anyone else?
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Joined: Sep 2011
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 45,233 Likes: 19 |
Boomer,
I can sure imagine they'll be popular in the Outback of Australia.
And the American west?
Geno
The desert is a true treasure for him who seeks refuge from men and the evil of men.
In it is contentment
In it is death and all you seek
(Quoted from "The Bleeding of the Stone" Ibrahim Al-Koni)
member of the cabal of dysfunctional squirrels?
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Joined: Sep 2010
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 31,428 |
Very specific lanes, like a part of terminal to terminal FedEx and UPS type businesses maybe. Even autonomous, they are not going to be running around empty. They will need a whole new support apperatus. Of course there's going to be crashes, just like the cars but bigger and will get more attention. Some day, when we're all running hydrogen, we'll have a percentage autonomous trucks I suppose.
"I can't be canceled, because, I don't give a fuuck!"
--- Kid Rock 2022
Holocaust Deniers, the ultimate perverted dipchits: Bristoe, TheRealHawkeye, stophel, Ghostinthemachine, anyone else?
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 45,233 Likes: 19
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 45,233 Likes: 19 |
NO dude, it's gonna be like Convoy on 40 East, all the way across the desert in SoCal, AZ, NM, and N TX.
10:4 Rubber Ducky and all that.
Or maybe like Every Which Way but Loose..............except with the Orang.
Geno
The desert is a true treasure for him who seeks refuge from men and the evil of men.
In it is contentment
In it is death and all you seek
(Quoted from "The Bleeding of the Stone" Ibrahim Al-Koni)
member of the cabal of dysfunctional squirrels?
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 31,428
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 31,428 |
"I can't be canceled, because, I don't give a fuuck!"
--- Kid Rock 2022
Holocaust Deniers, the ultimate perverted dipchits: Bristoe, TheRealHawkeye, stophel, Ghostinthemachine, anyone else?
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,071
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,071 |
So do they get a pass on scales or do they have to pull through them. And what if the scale master throws the park and bring your papers light? Or what happens on a blowout at speed. There are a bunch of questions that the real world will bring up.
Writing from the gateway to the great BluMtns in southeastern Washington.
Just remember, "You are the trailer park and I am the tornado". Beth Dutton, Yellowstone.
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Joined: Sep 2010
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 31,428 |
Consider too that a steady run, they're replacing 2 drivers not just one
I imagine the economics of it are very attractive.
"I can't be canceled, because, I don't give a fuuck!"
--- Kid Rock 2022
Holocaust Deniers, the ultimate perverted dipchits: Bristoe, TheRealHawkeye, stophel, Ghostinthemachine, anyone else?
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Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 7,862
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 7,862 |
It was only 40000 lbs? How much does a refer hold? I do 48000 lbs on a flatbed. I always thought they can do 45000 lbs in a van.
"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem."
Ronald Reagan
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 31,428
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 31,428 |
Reefer about 44. Dry van about 45.
"I can't be canceled, because, I don't give a fuuck!"
--- Kid Rock 2022
Holocaust Deniers, the ultimate perverted dipchits: Bristoe, TheRealHawkeye, stophel, Ghostinthemachine, anyone else?
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 25,933 Likes: 6
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 25,933 Likes: 6 |
I have weighed in a lot of over the road refer units which were on the lighter side of 33,000, which gives them room for 47,000 net.
But an AI refer truck can probably come in under 30 K #, with no driver, no sleeper, no food and water in the truck, no TV, no sleeper heater or AC, no generator. That will let the carrier schedule higher payload runs.
People who choose to brew up their own storms bitch loudest about the rain.
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Joined: Jan 2010
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 23,546 Likes: 1 |
one thing that might help is since they are autonomous they can operate from like 8pm to 6am and not clog the interstates, plus with networking traffic software that is intelligent like Waze they can changes routes on the fly to address congested traffic. I also suspect we'll see some standardized communication between autonomous automobiles at some point soon so they will talk to each other about passing, speed, road conditions, etc.,
I doubt we'll see trucks without humans in them in 10 years but I can see them not have to work the controls.
autonomous driving when it becomes standard, along with the electric vehicle is going to radically alter alot of peripheral business like hotels, interstate gas stations, rest areas, parking lots, etc.,
Last edited by KFWA; 12/12/19.
have you paid your dues, can you moan the blues, can you bend them guitar strings
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 10,257
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 10,257 |
Judging by how this is playing in the railroad industry, the job of "driver" is going to be a lot different, but not necessarily easier. Can't stop paying attention, because stuff happens. But paying attention gets much more difficult when things largely run themselves. I expect that drivers will still be held accountable if regulations are broken.
Lunatic fringe....we all know you're out there.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 59,170 Likes: 2
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 59,170 Likes: 2 |
Screw that crap... Tesla's tried a few and they've crashed... THAT is just a car.. How many will die when a 80,000# 'self-driving' semi goes haywire? No thanks....
Ex- USN (SS) '66-'69
Pro-Constitution.
LET'S GO BRANDON!!!
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Joined: Dec 2007
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2007
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Joined: Jun 2012
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 4,774 |
I work in the semi-truck manufacturing industry. My employer has a vested interest in this. The fleets say that there will always be a human in the cab because some loads value at $5,000,000. 4 guys in minivans have shown how easily that load can be hijacked without a driver by defeating the sensors.
Last edited by 19352012; 12/12/19.
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