Self Driving 18 Wheeler is now here!

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Trains can haul more,cost less per ton and require less manpower.
Can all big rigs,forget this tech and focus on what we've already got.
Costs less up front and down the line. Rail is far safer than on road trucking and we already have the infrastructure.
Put some of that R&D money into a more efficient and faster rail system and overhead will drop significantly.
Then drop some money into manufacturing reducing our dependence on off shore manufacturers which is killing both america and canada,add some stiff tariffs that'll make it cost effective to manufacture here and start returning North America to the powerhouse it once was.
All the while weakening China and strengthening our workforce.
Then we can kill this military industrial complex,stop fighting and killing for political gain and prevent the entire world from demonizing the west any more than has already happened.
Just spitballing.
 
Originally Posted By: robertcope
My biggest concern is that, as a human, I can anticipate things that a computer can't yet. A few months ago, I had the "textbook" ball in the road situation happen, for example; you know, ball bounces into the road from behind a truck in a driveway. Because I have the ability to anticipate, I slowed and covered my brake pedal. Sure enough, our runs a three or four year old, not a care in the world. Would a driverless car have run over the kid? I'm not sure. And that's a really simple situation to anticipate.

Years ago, I was driving down the highway. A truck up ahead, quite a bit up ahead, blew its motor. Smoke everywhere. I knew that meant oil could be on the road, so I slowed to nearly a crawl. Sure enough, oil everywhere, very slick roadway. There is no way a driverless vehicle could have known that. Or is there?

Anyhow, in concept, I support these technology solutions to our problems. But I am also a little weary. Cars and trucks are dangerous devices and humans are hard to replace.

robert



The computer will have data fed to it for many miles ahead so the reality is it can anticipate better than a human as it gets fed road conditions in real time for hundreds of miles in advance.

Maw far as a ball in the road you don't think the myriad of sensors wouldn't see that.
Givevme a break.
Oil on the road?
Easily seen by the road cameras feeding into a mainframe thus the automated truck knows it's there,and isn't guessing that it might be there.
So that doesn't actually hold water. In fact it's sieve like in its ability.
 
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We can't keep our infrastructure alive today, underground pipes, Roads, Bridges, Grid. I am not against technology but this ain't happening.
 
Originally Posted By: Clevy

The computer will have data fed to it for many miles ahead so the reality is it can anticipate better than a human as it gets fed road conditions in real time for hundreds of miles in advance.


Yes, there are solutions to all of the problems that I situations that I mentioned, but they're not there today and this truck won't have them.

Ball on the road... yes, no doubt the truck's sensors will detect it, but the ball will clear the truck's path. The truck won't know that it is a ball and that children often chase balls, so it will not anticipate that a child may run out in front of it. This bit of logic is actually possible, of course -- my friend Doug Lenat (go ahead, google him) has been working to allow computers to solve this sort of logic problem for 30 years -- but I don't see this truck having that technology. Not to mention, it would have to be able to recognize a ball visually, which is actually a tough AI problem in itself.

Oil on the road... road cameras feeding into a mainframe? I doubt it'd be a mainframe, but regardless, I guess it is possible that a network of cameras could pick something like that up. I doubt that cameras would be looking for an oil spill -- how often does that actually happen on public roads? But perhaps it is possible. Possible, but it isn't there today and certainly won't be there before this truck is hauling things.

I honestly have no doubt that in time we'll have fully automated transportation that does get it information from a large grid of sensors. But tomorrow, that ain't happening while this truck is driving down the road.

robert
 
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