Diesel Knock!..........................
I would be interested to see, first, who paid for this.
Second, where
third, how big a trial
I skimmed thru the post, didn’t see these details.
This is something, to a certain extent, that has me concerned (job security) but on another note somewhat excited to see how it works out. Technology will likely replace the human factor to a large extent at some point, but what will be the human cost? When does technological advancement cross the point of making humanity irrelevant?
Could it be worse than the non-English speaking criminal alien truckers who are killing people all over the U.S. lately?
‘The trial was conducted under tightly controlled but real-world conditions,...’
lol. i do not think ‘tightly controlled’ means ‘real world.’
those two predicates are not logically compatible.
By driving long haul distances at 40 mph instead of 60 mph, a truck can save at least 50% on fuel, tires, wear and tear, and could get by with lighter construction and a smaller motor. The truck would arrive at accidents with much less kinetic energy, and would have more thinking and reaction time for better outcomes. Who knows what the actual optimum speed point is for cost efficiency and lower insurance costs, but AI truck drivers will almost certainly save big money.
Eventually an accident will occur. Some computer failure or some unseen event causing death and destruction. Call me old fashioned, old fogey, out of date, over the hill, whatever, but I like to see a human behind the wheel. One who speaks English, can read and write and has a valid CDL. There is also one point I’d like to make. When I got a CDL for driving a tri-axel dump for a part time gig, one of the things that was stressed was for the driver to assist when witnessing an accident and there is no help yet. Also to call in to police debris and other road hazards. What will an AI driven truck do? When one breaks down, will another AI driven vehicle with robots come out to fix it or tow it away?
The AI controlled truck solution is a complete mistake. Really stupid. The AI controlled road is the correct solution. The highway determines if the truck can enter, its speed, spacing and exit; all based upon the entire condition of the road and other traffic not on the encounters made by a single AI driverless truck.
As long as the industry doesn’t use 3rd world programmers it should be fine. /S
-——who’s accountable when things go wrong? ——
Now, that is a prescient look at the heart of the manner. It boils down to the lawyerly concept and fear, who do we sue? The AI generated data logs clearly show all conditions were optimal.
I suspect AI driven trucks will do as the real drivers do, they will form long chains of trucks going 68 or 69 mph, evenly spaced at the AI determined safe spacing interval.
An empty flat bed will chafe at ther pace aqnd attempt to go round. But lacking the ability to exceed 70 mph will block the left lane because it can’t pass. The problem will upset the 4 wheeler driver who doesn’t like to pass trucks but got stuck trying to pass and becomes panicky, doing something stupid and inducing a wreck of the whole caravan.
The panicked driver dies and thus can’t be sued
“The trial was conducted under tightly controlled but real-world conditions,“
Seems the be a contradiction in there somewhere.
AI truck systems in battle with illegals who will win place your bets now.
