Robot Trucks? Maybe Not
Hello my dear friends at Steemit. People have questions about whether or not there will be robot truck drivers. People think there will be robot driven trucks. My opinion after driving a truck would be I doubt it and here is why:
First of all, if the truck robot makes one mistake all the trucks with that robot will be sidelined. Everyone will starve.
The number of different load types will make it impossible.
Trucks drive in all sorts of weather and the weather is often the nastiest weather that one can imagine. Many times trucks driven by robots will stop because of the weather where human drivers will keep on driving. The robots will not be allowed to park by law. The program will overload and the robot catch fire in the "Where can I park loop"
a) Robot driver or not, the trucks will still need to chain up and a robot cannot do that, at least not for a while.
b) The chains will fall off or need adjustment and a robot cannot do that. The fine for losing one chain is $1,000
c) Robots will sink the trucks in mud and in Florida just like human drivers.
On trucks there are already a zillion types of sensors. With a robot driver the trucks will need a zillion more sensors, all the sensors have the ability to cease to function at any given moment.
a) Robots cannot determine mechanical failure from noises while driving, such as the crunch of running over someone's car.
b) Robots cannot determine the sound of parts which have no sensor suddenly falling off.
c) What about fueling, oil, fluids, air?
Robots cannot make simple repairs that get the truck to a repair center. Truckers fix things with a screwdriver and a pair of pliers all the time.
Robots have to have someone free the brakes when they freeze to the drums or the discs.
Robots might have to have someone monitor them just like a video game even though the robot does everything. So a driver is paid anyways.
The load on the trucks will suffer tremendously due to road conditions like pot holes and no asphalt on new construction.
The robot cannot adjust the load if there is a problem or the load is unstable.
Robots cannot clean their sensor areas sufficiently for all conditions. Radar might be the best. People will sue for exposure to radar at close range.
If a sensor fails and the robot does not know it it will just keep on driving, destroying everything in its way.
Trucks cannot be parked on the street anymore in most places and if the robot has to wait, it will be ticketed a minimum of $400
The robot truck will require towing far more frequently than if there were a driver. Tows for tractor trailers are insanely expensive.
GPS will cause the robot to get lost.
Data entry errors in road hazards will cause the destruction of a vast number of low hanging things, such as bridges
The robot will get lonely and try to pick up other hot robot drivers.
4 wheelers, human drivers in cars, or robot drivers of cars will cause most of the accidents.
In some instances, the robot will have to travel in reverse for long distances in heavy traffic or there will be no other way to get the truck out of its predicament and back on the road.
With robot truck drivers, the company will have to pay all fines instead of the driver. Once transport companies figure out they will have to pay the fines, human drivers will be back because you can always throw a redneck in jail and another takes the driver's place.
To save money on the cost of the robot drivers the lowest price programmers and robot designers will be used producing the worst quality, most dangerous robot possible, Like ED209 in the movie, Robocop.
- Maximum Overdrive (1986), a movie explains it all as to what happens according Chaos theory when:
a) Skynet forms and the machines take control
b) The Matrix machines take control
c) Terrorists take control
d) the unemployed take control
e) Executives at trucking companies are all arrested because they can't pay that many fines
f) A four year old hits a wrong button on the refrigerator and the Internet of Things reprograms all the robot trucks too...
Image Sources: sp.yimg.com
Having been and electronics technican for a decade, and after that a trucker for a quarter century...My experience leads me to disagree with almost everything you wrote.
Perhaps the chain laws are different and parking laws as well last time you drove?
One Day when trucking was better because I teamed with the wife, and this is why she quit - The computer went out five times on a C-15. We were towed five times until someone actually diagnosed the problem and changed the computer out with a new one. Just before that, she was driving and things started happening so I told her to turn off. The computer went out on the off ramp which just happened to have at least a 30 drop off. The computer goes out and the steering goes out. Fortunately, I was there otherwise it would have been off the cliff. No literally, it took all my strenth while standing in the cab to help her turn the wheel. There are rocks in the foundation of this house that weigh four thousand pounds that I picked up, brought here, and put in. So, me strong?
Computers are a wonderful thing but they can go poof! Oh yeah, some of this was funny, I thought even though I did not put it under funny or humor. And my experiences with computers and chips started in 1979. And as for tech, well, I live out in the middle of nature and generally know very much of what I am talking about or I don't say anything about it until I do.
People have already died in robotic cars and there aren't very many robot cars. When there is as many as people driven...who knows?
who has died in a robotic car?
How many people die falling in the bathtub.
Like it or not automation IS going to replace everything that does not require human innovation.
And here's the thing. Once the human does the innovating, THEN it can be programmed into the computer and a human is no longer needed for THAT thing.
oh yeah...I quit driving two years ago. I still have my CDL.
The laws different? Ya think? They vary from CITY to city...not to mention county and state.