Driverless Freight Transport

Will you be comfortable on a highway with massive trucks driving around by themselves. I am quite perturbed by the thought. But rapid strides have been made towards making this a reality

The tech already exists with us now and is supposed to be the most viable solution for a variety of issues like the acute driver shortage faced by developed economies (30K in US), pollution & fuel consumption since the self driving trucks are 15 percent more efficient. They are also expected to be safer on the road. Total potential savings are estimated to be in the range of $170 bn.

No additional infrastructure is required than those already available in the developed countries. Even the existing trucks can be retrofitted to be self driving. A ex Googlers startup Otto, promises to retrofit vehicles for just $30,000. Uber bought it for $680 Mn some days back

About safety as an example in US in 2012, 330,000 large trucks were involved in crashes that killed about 4,000 people of which 90%  were caused by driver error. Autonomous vehicles will not get tired, stressed, distracted and angry and could potentially reduce accidents.

Various auto-assist vehicles are already on the roads. A dozen truck convoy supported by Volvo, Daimler and Volkswagen completed a week-long drive across Western Europe with the lead truck controlling the braking of the entire train. Mining giant Rio Tinto uses 45 240-ton driverless trucks to move iron ore in two Australian mines. Freightliner Inspiration heavy-duty trucks have been rolling down Nevada interstates

While physical and technical barriers are worked out politics, regulations and public opinion will continue to remain a challenge for sometime

Automation as a whole is going to create wide spread unemployment across countries and economies. Jobless growth is social and economic challenge of our times. And specifically Autonomous freight transport would put in jeopardy the jobs of millions of drivers. US has 3.5 million professional truck drivers who collectively haul more than 10bn tons of freight each year, The hours are long, the pay is low and the lifestyle is boring but the entire class of drivers have none or limited skillsets for any other source of livelihood.

On the regulations front: The Dutch government is seeking to clear the way for such truck convoys across EU member states, In the US, new national laws and regulations by the National Highway Transportation Association (NHTSA) currently supports testing but not public use. But guidelines for driver less truck testing, certification, enforcement, cybersecurity, liability and insurance is being drafted. American Trucking Association’s Technology and Maintenance Council is lobbying in support. The type of regulation which is drafted by the individual countries will be cognisant of multiple aspects including safety, economics and public perception

And on public perception - people feel unsafe around massive truck trailers even with drivers in them wonder what it will take them to trust trucks with no drivers. I see people mentally imagining scenes from Terminator or Transformer mowing down the piddly humans

Though Humans need not worry too much of being taken over by these robots any time soon. There remain some serious obstacles to the autonomous vehicles

• Technology cannot handle all the situations it might run into like highway lane markers leading to an exit ramp.
• It cannot yet discern between different surfaces like sand, snow and ice,
• And they just cannot fathom how other human drivers think which has been the reason for 19 of the 20 Google car crashes so far

Though the drivers in countries like India have nothing to fear. No amount of automation is going to figure out a way through this