I assure you, the 4-wheelers can be every bit as much as a menace.
Posted on 06/21/2015 11:02:24 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
(AUDIO-AT-LINK)
Driverless trucks are coming to Alberta's mining operations. Last week, Suncor Energy Inc. confirmed that it has entered a 5-year agreement with a Japanese manufacturer of autonomous vehicles. The company has already agreed to buy 175 driverless trucks, and a spokesperson says it plans to replace its entire fleet by the end of the decade. Local union members are concerned that the technology could lead to the loss of hundreds of jobs.
Day 6 got the reaction of two stakeholders from opposite ends of the automated vehicle debate: Barrie Kirk is is the executive director of the Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence consulting firm. And Steve Kelly is the Treasurer for Unifor Local 707A in Fort McMurray. He has been operating heavy equipment with Suncor for ten years.
BARRIE KIRK
Describe to me what we're talking about here. How big are the heavy haul trucks?
The trucks in the oil patch are huge. These are the big monster trucks that carry ore and dirt from where it's been scraped from the ground to a processing site. So they are 20-30 meters tall, with wheels a couple of times taller than the average person.
How difficult is it to control a piece of technology so gigantic and so specialized?
On the private property of the oil patch, not all that difficult. There's already a lot of computing power on those trucks, so you just have to give the onboard computers the right commands. The controls are electronic — "drive by wire," as it's called. It would be far, far more complicated to have an automated car driving in downtown Toronto.
And what about the people who drive the trucks now? If it's "drive by wire," why do they make so much money?
Because there's a huge responsibility....
(Excerpt) Read more at cbc.ca ...
Dont worry. It will take lots of v even highrer paid people to keep them running and fixing what they run over.
It potential a third of the workforce in North America losing their jobs.
As someone who drives a private vehicle 50 to 90k a year for the last 15 years I cant wait to have the obnoxious, unsafe and irresponsible drivers that are handling today’s big rigs off the road.
They are a menace, where once a truck driver was a knight of the road they are a blight of the road.
I generally hate to see good jobs replaced by automation but I pray the day comes soon when this menace is off our roads
I assure you, the 4-wheelers can be every bit as much as a menace.
Interesting that driverless trucks will be provided by Google (not the trucks, but the computer systems, that is).
One-third of the work force in N.A. are truck drivers?
Truck drivers. Cabbies. Ambulance drivers. Transit drivers.
About one in every third job involves somebody driving a vehicle.
I’m at the DMV right now downgrading my CDL to a normal driver license. My DOT physical showed significant risk of sleep apnea. Of course, after consulting with a real sleep specialist and doing a study, it turns out I have a very mild case, one which the doctor told me that if the DOT weren’t involved, he wouldn’t treat me at all.
I can’t justify the cost and hassle of a CPAP so I can be an occasional volunteer bus driver.
From what I understand, many drivers are being nailed by this.
DOT and driverless trucks are just two more nails in the coffin of the American trucking industry.
I also wrote my supposed congressional representative. He doesn’t care.
I’ve been on CPAP since 1993 when I fell asleep at the wheel with my toddler son in the back seat. Luckily we both survived. Please get one as soon as you can.
The sheer demand for work by truckers will prevent this from being widespread. Too many people who have done this for a living and need to earn a living will let it become widespread.
In all due respect, that's not the way economics works.
When it's cheaper to replace drivers with computers, driving jobs will go away.
The doctor said I don’t need one. The government back said I do.
Back=hack
That doesn’t include all operators of transportations. Planes, trains, ships, automobiles.
All spin off occupations that are from the driving as well, like security or oil field work.
It may not be an actual third of all occupations, though that was the figure I had read, it will be a much higher number in the end then just 3% of occupations.
We are still talking about a minimal 6 million jobs or more in the end.
You can add railroad engineers and aircraft pilots, etc. For example ALL railroad workers (not just drivers) comes to .1% of the workforce. Same for ALL Water Transportation workers (not just pilots), just .1%.
This is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics...they are pretty accurate.
I understand that and I admitted I was probably wrong, though that had been the figure I had read. It still doesn’t change the fact that a 5% change in the job market is still going to amount to at least 6 million jobs when all is said and done.
I don't own these numbers.
I know you and follow your comments...and respect you.
I just thought you might want to know what the BLS says.
Frankly, I was shocked by the spread of jobs across such a wide spectrum of careers.
Sorry if my persistence might have been offensive.
I just get into research and then over-do it.
I get hyper at times...sorry.
I’m sorry. I wasn’t intending to come across contentious and you didn’t come across too offensive. :)
The effect will simply be more widespread than anybody can see. For example, armored trucks typically use three security guards, two to transport the cash and one person to drive. If this technology is perfected, there will only need to be two security detail for each armored car.
There will also be peripheral effects, jobs that exist because drivers exist, like companies that produce seat warmers or steering wheel covers. Even something like the drive thru lane at a fast food restaurant coud be affected in unseen ways by this technology.
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