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Bring on the self driving transport trucks!

Admiral Beez

Admiral Beez

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The sooner we have self driving transport trucks the better. It seems every week we have the GTA highways jammed with transport trucks driven by distracted or inexperienced operators that have rammed slowed/stopped traffic, jackknifed or tipped over.

SELF-DRIVING TRUCKS ARE COMING TO SAVE LIVES AND KILL JOBS
www.wired.com

Self-Driving Trucks Are Coming to Save Lives and Kill Jobs

Bad news for the 2.8 million drivers who work one of the most common jobs in the country.
www.wired.com www.wired.com
 
Phoenix to Tucson is a pretty stable climate area and assuming Interstate 10, not really high volume, but I suppose it's a start. My new truck, like most newer vehicles, has lots of tech. The 'road departure' warning only works if there is a clearly painted fog line, lane keeping only if clear lines on both sides, and the collision avoidance give false positives. It's just a tone and warning light (it might actually brake, I haven't got that far into the manual) but if it started nailing the brakes when there is absolutely no one in my path I'd be turning it off. Hopefully their tech is better.
 
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A good start would be semiautonomous trucks, where a driver and distance warning radar and tilt sensors work in concert. Most of these cases where the distracted or disabled driver plows into traffic would be avoided if the truck’s sensors could detect an obstacle before the braking window has been surpassed.


A sensor would have caught that steering input was too much for speed, and thus reduced either.
 
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Admiral Beez said:
A good start would be semiautonomous trucks, where a driver and distance warning radar and tilt sensors work in concert. Most of these cases where the distracted or disabled driver plows into traffic would be avoided if the truck’s sensors could detect an obstacle before the braking window has been surpassed.


A sensor would have caught that steering input was too much for speed, and thus reduced either.
Click to expand...

True (although that's the thing I get a lot of false positives on). It would have to be sufficient to distract the driver from his streaming movie.
 
Jes#s, reading this article confirms what I'm seeing, with Ontario's professional transport drivers of all backgrounds being replaced nearly entirely with unqualified and exploited young Sikh male temporary workers. Imagine paying for a job?

How an immigration scheme steers newcomers into Canadian trucking jobs – and puts lives at risk
www.theglobeandmail.com

How an immigration scheme steers newcomers into Canadian trucking jobs – and puts lives at risk

Immigration consultants and trucking firms with sketchy safety records have found ways to exploit foreign job seekers, sometimes with tragic results when unprepared drivers are sent out on the road, a Globe investigation finds
www.theglobeandmail.com www.theglobeandmail.com
 
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it's because nobody wants to be a trucker any more. In the modern age of essentially full employment, nobody wants to work a job that has you away from home 5-6 days a week for a fairly marginal wage. A lot of truckers run their own trucks too, which has huge upfront costs and risks for the level of return. It's a very tough business.

It's similar to a lot of other TFW common jobs around the country.
 
There have been a few studies and exposes surrounding how inadequate the big rig driver training is across the country - actually, Ontario is one of the stronger ones.
True that there still are owner-operators but they are getting fewer. It used to be that there were two types of rigs on the road; load-owned fleet where the drivers were employees (the beer companies and Canadian Tire used to be like this), with a high level of pride and a realization that the fleet was and extension of their corporate image; and owner-operators, where the driver owns the tractor and hauls contract trailers. A high up-front cost, but there was a vested interest in maintenance and safe operation. Now there is a third - corporate tractor fleets, often leased, driven by drivers supplied by a driver pool company. The drivers are poorly paid by the km and have no vested interest in the rig or its load - just get from A to B as fast as they can. Add to that 'just-in-time' delivery, which has essentially foisted factory warehousing onto public highways.
 
innsertnamehere said:
it's because nobody wants to be a trucker any more. In the modern age of essentially full employment, nobody wants to work a job that has you away from home 5-6 days a week for a fairly marginal wage. A lot of truckers run their own trucks too, which has huge upfront costs and risks for the level of return. It's a very tough business.

It's similar to a lot of other TFW common jobs around the country.
Click to expand...

It's a tough business to be sure, but you can still make six figures as an owner operator.
 
Admiral Beez said:
The sooner we have self driving transport trucks the better. It seems every week we have the GTA highways jammed with transport trucks driven by distracted or inexperienced operators that have rammed slowed/stopped traffic, jackknifed or tipped over.

SELF-DRIVING TRUCKS ARE COMING TO SAVE LIVES AND KILL JOBS
www.wired.com

Self-Driving Trucks Are Coming to Save Lives and Kill Jobs

Bad news for the 2.8 million drivers who work one of the most common jobs in the country.
www.wired.com www.wired.com
Click to expand...
A lot can be said by car drivers who cut in front of them with no warning, tail gate. There are more bad car drivers on the road than truck drivers.
 
drum118 said:
A lot can be said by car drivers who cut in front of them with no warning, tail gate.
Click to expand...
I've rarely heard of anyone tailgating a transport truck that resulted in a crash. The car can stop a lot faster than the truck, so a collision is unlikely.

As for cars swerving in front, I'd much rather that the truck smash into the offending car than veer across the highway and hit ten more cars. Here's a good example of a good driver at 0:39, smash that car, not all of them.


But let’s do both, and deal with the killer trucks and the crazy car drivers.
 
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