Self-driving trucks: when will they hit the roads?

Any experts in here who can answer this for me? I want to become a trucker but am not sure it's worthwhile if it's just gonna get automated in 5 years. How close are we really to the full automation of trucks?

4

Isn't the training for becoming a trucker pretty significant?

Why do you give a shit? It's not like you are going to spend 2 years working on a diploma or 4 years on an undergraduate degree.

Don't bother, trucks will be the first thing to go automatic. Plus trucking is just calling for ill health, drugs, prostitutes and diabetes.

Become a welder or a technician of some sort. You will be useful and decently paid for your whole life.

arent 60% of americans truckers? i doubt theyre going to replace them all

2030 desu

It'll probably be a while before we get self driving trucks that legally don't require a driver. But don't expect that you'll be able to do this until retirement.

This. I don't see robots placing electrical cables in buildings any time soon.

>How close are we really to the full automation of trucks?

My guesstimates...
OTR (Over The Road, meaning the big rigs on the highways):
>6-8 years
Local delivery:
>8-12 years

Most trucks are still manual gearboxes...that shows you how cheap the industry is.

>Isn't the training for becoming a trucker pretty significant?

Six weeks at a school to attain a CDL, but some companies will train. Took me four months on the job at a soda company.

>Don't bother, trucks will be the first thing to go automatic.

Wrong. They're big, heavy and dangerous, as terrorists have recently discovered...that means liability issues for both the trucking company and manufacturer, who can no longer blame their driver for accidents. On the other hand...

>Plus trucking is just calling for ill health, drugs, prostitutes and diabetes.

True. Avoid OTR like the plague, go for delivery. If it has a sleeper cab on it, you're considered part of the truck by the company, and will have no free time as you understand it in a normal job.

>Become a welder or a technician of some sort. You will be useful and decently paid for your whole life.

Also true.

t. Truck Driver

>They're big, heavy and dangerous, as terrorists have recently discovered
That sounds like exactly the reason we should be taking their driving out of the hands of fallible humans or people with evil intentions

>Six weeks at a school to attain a CDL,
You have some pretty lax laws. We have to drive 4/6 axles for 2 years before they even let us train for a semi.

3

You realize that any self driving truck won't be infallible and will definitely have a manual mode on it, right?

Self driving trucks just have to be BETTER than humans, not PERFECT

Even just 1% safer is an improvement
... it'll probably be closer to 90+% tho

>megaLULZ

Buildings will be made like plastic bags are made now. Any kind of wiring will be laid as the robots is building the house itself.

>nigga jumps infront of truck
>truck stops to protect pedestrian and then gets looted

Then make it so that the truck's AI is coded with the 3 laws of robotics. It literally wouldn't allow a driver to use it for murder. As soon as it sees people in front of it, the brakes come on. Simple, right?

mmm, car ransomware will be interesting


>please pay 4 bitcoins to unlock speeds above 20mph and the turn signals

Is regulation included in those estimates?

Thats boring
>please pay 4 bitcoins to unlock speeds lower than maximun speed

FIxed

I don't think OPs skillset of driving trucks could apply to a technician. Better to just aim for another job that hasn't been automated, or likely won't be in the next 10-20 years

yesterday

I'm sure they will, Prefab houses are already a thing, container houses as well.
But it's going at a slower pace. Though I expect that to change since most young people can longer afford to build, a prefab houses could are cheaper and have still potential to lower in cost.

But richer people will definitely want custom houses. And there is a lot of other construction that has to be custom made outside of houses.
At this point most other jobs will be automated as well.

OTR seems way comfier man. You get to listen to podcasts all day in a comfy seat and enjoy the scenery. Meanwhile as a local driver you're constantly stressed by narrow streets, stop lights, stop signs, tight turns and dumbfuck drivers. Plus the pay is better I believe. It's easy to look after your health. Just don't overeat and exercise 30 minutes a day.

Anyway, that 6-8 years figure is a shame. Was hoping to squeeze out 10 years of this comfy as fuck, decent paying job.

Contrary to what most people (and respectable companies) seem to believe, I think not for at least another 50 years.
Sure, it works under the ideal circumstances, but the not ideal ones are still going to happen a little too often for comfort.
And you don't want to be near any automated vehicle when it does.

>You have some pretty lax laws. We have to drive 4/6 axles for 2 years before they even let us train for a semi.

Wew, lad. 4/6 years without an accident, and you'll be qualified for heavy haul or a fuel tanker in the US...

>Is regulation included in those estimates?

Probably not...that's when they'll only exist with the bugs nearly worked out, I'm guessing.

>Self driving trucks just have to be BETTER than humans, not PERFECT

In fact, they have to be nearly perfect.

If a sleepy truck driver crashes into a school bus, the driver gets hung out to dry, because he fills out both a vehicle inspection and a driver's log before going on duty...both are legally binding documents stating that it's the driver's fault if his awareness or his truck failed. He might try to blame his company for overwork and lack of sleep in court, but the industry has decades of experience in dealing with that complaint...they never "officially" tell a trucker to drive until he drops, you see.

If an automated truck hits a school bus, the crucial scapegoat of the driver is missing, and blame rests squarely with either the truck's manufacturer or the trucking company operating it...probably the latter, who will be accused by the former of neglecting the maintenance on the vehicle. They'll fire the technician who last worked on it, but they'll still get sued.

And unlike the lone trucker, who can only be sued for his life's savings by the victim's families, a trucking company will be worth considerably more, making it a more appetizing target for an attorney.

>OTR seems way comfier man.

Seems comfy until you realize that you're living in a truck more than your own home.

Find a closet big enough for a twin mattress and some luggage, and then live in it for a week with just an old antifreeze jug for a urinal. Good way to find out if you're up for the challenge or not...I did it for 8 months before I ran back to soda delivery.

This. There's no way to stop this from happening outside of putting a guard in the truck. And then......

It defeats the damn purpose.