Driverless Semitrucks On The Roads Next Year

fmdog44

fmdog44

Well-known Member
Location
Houston, Texas
60 Minutes tonight had a story on the coming driverless semitrucks that will be on the roads next year. So our great American truck stops will fade away along with drivers. They will drive in the rain and they are working on driving on the snow. Money rules over people again.
 

Oh yes, self-driving trucks, great idea! It sounds to me like Stephen King's novel, Maximum Overdrive! We'll all be sheltering in diners here and there as the trucks and other vehicles circle about, allowing us exit only to fuel them...Aieee! :devilish:

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mlh said, "I have trouble with the idea that they are going to basically trust a computer to not malfunction on the road and kill someone." Personally, I don't think we are there yet. There are way too many variables that a computer may not be up to the task. But a human driving a truck is facing those same variables . I don't know how many people truckers kill in accidents, per year. But what if it turned out the computer drivers got into fewer accidents? Humans screw up too. I agree with mlh, I don't think we're there yet.
 
Becky1951 said:
Oh goody another computer program that can be hacked. Terrorist can have fun with this one!
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I absolutely agree with the hacking. I watched the video and the company is aware that they are not able to put a driverless truck on the road at this time. However, even if they were to put a fully functional computer run truck on an open road whenever, I can come up with all sorts of situations where they will need someone to make an override on the system. Computers are great when they operate as we hope they would, but when they screw up, and they do screw up from time to time, it may cost someone or many others their life. I would imagine they will use satellite technology to run these beasts, so if they should mess up, the company will be able to reboot or make a correction into the computer language or system. Sort of Buck Rogers stuff.

I also read an article some time ago about having pilotless airplanes. Yeah, I will want to be the first person to hop into one of those things. I'm not saying that it will never be possible, but I don't believe that we will see these types of vehicles come to fruition in our lifetime.

It would be really something to get into my car and punch in an address into the GPS and the car take me to it. Such an imagination!
 
If driverless cars/trucks start hitting the roads, I suspect there will be an increase in accidents while such technology is being "perfected". Then, I can just imagine the carnage that would take place if/when the hackers find ways to hijack the signals. It would make drunks and cell phone users a minor hazard compared to runaway trucks.
 
oldman said:
I absolutely agree with the hacking. I watched the video and the company is aware that they are not able to put a driverless truck on the road at this time. However, even if they were to put a fully functional computer run truck on an open road whenever, I can come up with all sorts of situations where they will need someone to make an override on the system. Computers are great when they operate as we hope they would, but when they screw up, and they do screw up from time to time, it may cost someone or many others their life. I would imagine they will use satellite technology to run these beasts, so if they should mess up, the company will be able to reboot or make a correction into the computer language or system. Sort of Buck Rogers stuff.

I also read an article some time ago about having pilotless airplanes. Yeah, I will want to be the first person to hop into one of those things. I'm not saying that it will never be possible, but I don't believe that we will see these types of vehicles come to fruition in our lifetime.

It would be really something to get into my car and punch in an address into the GPS and the car take me to it. Such an imagination!
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Well if they still need a human in the vehicle anyway then what's the point of having a driverless vehicle that's not actually driverless? That makes absolutely no sense. Some of these vehicles cost $100,000. It seems like a waste of money if they're gonna still have someone in the truck to pay to push a button or take over if something goes wrong. Not to mention all the folks they put out of work for that.
 
.What sicken me is the proponents of this said "computers don't sleep, eat, take breaks, need sick days." In short, screw people. There was a Twilight Zone episode with the same words spoken as one guy automated an entire plant. The computer eventually replaced him.
 

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