
1.8M American truck drivers could lose their jobs to robots - Futurebot
http://www.vox.com/2016/8/3/12342764/autonomous-trucks-employment
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pedalpete
This is definitely coming, and truckers need to be aware. Upskilling now is
imperative.

At the same time, it isn't just the truck drivers. Logistics is also changing
and becoming automated, then you've got delivery drivers (I'll assume they are
also considered in the same bucket as truck drivers), bus drivers etc.

Self-driving cars also have a huge impact. It isn't just taxis/uber-drivers
that are being replaced, there is the change to infrastructure. How do parking
needs change? How about traffic police?

I was thinking about this yesterday, and how do we think far enough ahead to
prepare as a society, and benefit from these changes?

On a side-note, I seriously question the stats from NPR's most common
occupation. How can you have states where the most common job is Secretary? Is
Software Engineer really the most common profession in any state?

~~~
pkroll
Indeed, it appears there's a viable argument for "retail sales" as the most
common job in 42 states. [http://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-truck-driver-
isnt-the-mo...](http://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-truck-driver-isnt-the-
most-common-job-in-your-state-2015-02-12)

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astrodust
This is an interesting sort of career path for people. A hundred years ago
there was no such thing as a long-haul trucker, the only reliable way to get
goods over vast distances was train if there was tracks or boat if there were
navigable waterways.

Through the 1950s trucking became a force to recon with, and these days with
seemingly everyone moving to zero-inventory systems it requires a degree of
flexibility that rail can't afford.

Still, you have to wonder how many horse and buggy drivers were put out of
business by long-haul truckers. A single motorized vehicle could do the work
of twenty wagons which were probably the standard mode of transportation in
many places until highways emerged.

Self-driving is just the next step.

~~~
edko
However, the effect this next step can have on the overall economy can be
disastrous. Not only is truck driver the most common profession, with their
unemployment creating hardships for millions of families, and the families of
industries related to truck driving, but also the knock on effect that will
have. Imagine all those families spending less, creating recession, lay-offs,
and bankruptcies in every industry. It could be more disastrous than the
housing crisis.

~~~
astrodust
It will have a pretty major impact on things, but then again, so did switching
from wagons to diesel trucks. How many people making horse shoes and buggies
went bankrupt? How many people were there that used to deal with the horses,
with the carriages, with selling goods and services to people?

The efficiencies gained by long-distance hauling being practical made entirely
new industries possible. So long as this automated transport enables _new_
business opportunities that require labour it will be a positive thing.

If this is robotic trucks driving goods to robotic factories with products
designed by robots, then we're screwed.

~~~
flukus
And how much social upheaval was there? Enough to kill off a good chunk of the
working population.

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Shivetya
I think robots will be the future in many industries but honestly self driving
cars are no where near where they need to be. There are none on the road right
now, yeah, none. You cannot trust a single one to be safe in conditions the
average driver can drive in. Soon as it rains, snows, or such, these systems
start to fail.

Oh sure they brag up the internet but damn, they are doing the easiest driving
there is. Throw a few plastic supermarket bags in front on your "self driving"
car and you will find it isn't anything more than self tailgating. Really, why
are these systems so big on tail gating when its not guaranteed you are tail
gating another car with similar equipment? Finally, who is liable when a
supposedly self driving car is told to speed?

back to trucks, long haul might get it first but not unless roads are setup to
accommodate them because bad weather driving is a lot further off than we
suspect

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force_reboot
There is a glaring contradiction between the two mainstream narratives, one of
which goes that we need working class jobs because not everyone is capable of
middle class jobs, the other of which says there aren't enough people to fill
working class jobs so we need immigration.

There two narratives exist in almost every Western nation.

