According to transportation experts, trucking industry will change drastically within the next two decades. It is important for carriers to be prepared for these changes in order to survive them.
The last big change in trucking was deregulation and it put many carriers out of the business. It was a major change, but the one that is coming is even bigger, and it is going to happen due to vehicle automation.
Self-driving trucks are soon to become a part of the industry, and it might happen sooner than many expect. There are two main reasons for such a prognosis: reduction of costs for fleets and safety advantages of self-driving vehicles.
The number of fatal automobile crashes in the United States keeps rising every year, so the need for change is becoming obvious. It is not just the trucking industry that will see it, but the transportation world in general. Automated cars will eliminate problems of texting and driving, DUI and driver fatigue and therefore increase the safety.
As for the savings, automated trucks would save fleets over a dollar per mile in operating costs. It would come from drivers’ wages, fuel economy, lower insurance costs and higher efficiency of self-driving trucks.
The apparent downside is that such a change has a potential to create massive unemployment but that is only temporary. As history shows, no big change ever happens without casualties, but the outcome proves to be worthwhile.
The innovating aspect of these trucks makes me happy. low dead or accident rate,low-cost, time-saving etc very nice.
What an incredible innovation!!! how the world is turning to a small place. Great work and thumbs-up.
Although this sounds exciting I’m not fully on board with it. There are too many unpredictable variables that can occur. Will the system be able to detect an oncoming deer and respond? How will it handle debris in the road? In theory, self-driving cars and trucks are great, but in reality, we’ve a long way to go before we start putting these on the roads. I’m also concerned about putting people out of work and there is already a job shortage across the nation. We also need to do more to rebuild and repair our infrastructure before these expensive cars and trucks get on our damaged roads. Just my thoughts.