Self Driving Tractor Trailers

I keep hearing about these self driving tractor trailers coming out. What future does that mean for all the drivers in the field now? I want to get into the field but I'm at a stand still about it now because of this. Can any of you drivers give me any info about it what you all are hearing of job security about this? I do not hear any truckers talking about this at all.

Enter "Self Driving Trucks" in the search bar at the top of this page, we've talked about it plenty here.

I'm pretty sure it'll be a few years before you need to worry about being replaced by a self driving truck. This post talks about how its not going to be another 10 years before offered commercially, so that was almost two years ago so we can say that there's 8 years left before they're offered commercially. Then the company will need to make the call on if its worth it to do away with all their old trucks to buy all new self driving trucks which I'm sure will be anything but cheap. Not every company will have the money to switch right away even once they become an option. Someday yeah all drivers both of trucks and cars will be a thing of the past and that will put a lot of people out of work, but that's still a ways off.

I think truckers will still be around for decades. What I do foresee happening within the next several years is some autonomous features being introduced gradually. We've already got adaptive cruise control and emergency braking, both of which use radar to control the distance from the vehicle in front of you. I anticipate lane control being the next thing. We'll probably end up with some sort of advanced cruise control/auto-pilot that keeps the truck on the road during long stretches of interstate driving. I don't anticipate trucks being able or permitted to drive themselves in cities anytime soon.

Of course at this point I'm just guessing.

I think truckers will still be around for decades. What I do foresee happening within the next several years is some autonomous features being introduced gradually. We've already got adaptive cruise control and emergency braking, both of which use radar to control the distance from the vehicle in front of you. I anticipate lane control being the next thing. We'll probably end up with some sort of advanced cruise control/auto-pilot that keeps the truck on the road during long stretches of interstate driving. I don't anticipate trucks being able or permitted to drive themselves in cities anytime soon.

Of course at this point I'm just guessing.

I wonder if they will be able to add a feature to these Trucks that will talk to the Driver, and say things like "Hey Paul, DON'T FORGET YOUR KEYS"!!!

Hahahaha good one Tractor Man

Tractor Man wonders:

I wonder if they will be able to add a feature to these Trucks that will talk to the Driver, and say things like "Hey Paul, DON'T FORGET YOUR KEYS"!!!

Sure! But when will these automatic trucks talk LIKE a trucker?

Idiot 4-wheeler driver!!!!

Sure! But when will these automatic trucks talk LIKE a trucker?

Idiot 4-wheeler driver!!!!

Haha that reminds me of one of the times my DriveCam recorded me. A four-wheeler cut me off in my lane right before I was going to change lanes and I had to hit the brakes pretty hard. I wasn't assigned coaching for it, but I remember me telling in the video. "F$%&in idiot!!"

I was a little embarrassed when I realized my dispatcher probably saw that same video.

I imagine the people who preview those videos get some really good laughs!

Just like doctors, they've seen it all!!

I seriously doubt it will happen in our lifetime...even after they "make it perfect", they'll have a bunch of convincing of the public before it actually happens...just my two cents.