Robotic Trucking to Replace Drivers? Posted by DC Cargo Mall on February 05, 2014

Looks like the future is rearing its new-fangled head quicker than we envisioned it.  Unless you are in with the new prediction of Driver-less vehicles, which, according to Chairman of the House’s Highways and Transit Subcommittee Tom Petri, should be developed and made available in the next 10 to 20 years.

There have been suggestions put into place on how to begin preparation for these autonomous trucks. Michael Robinson, vice president of GM’s sustainability and global regulatory affairs notes that Congress must begin now at fostering an environment nationally as opposed to internationally and that lawmakers should get started with addressing operating requirements, guidelines, and standards needed for eventual implementation.

The question of road safety is surely considered in this complicated and novel calculation. Petri assures that executing these self-driving vehicles into actuality could contrarily improve safety, reduce traffic congestion, and allow more efficient use of the country’s infrastructure.

This is definitely enticing to CEO’s of grand infrastructures, but how many drivers could lose their jobs due to this development?

The only pacification for now though, is that the complexity of this robotic system necessitates at least a significant time-frame into the future before it becomes a reality. This buys drivers, at the very least, a huge bracket of time.

David Strickland, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s administrator, says that the FHTSA has been researching ways to platoon commercial vehicles through Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control. This system would enable the vehicle to detect the speed of the surrounding vehicles and then amazingly adjust its speed accordingly. 

Strickland enthuses: “This type of technology will allow significant reductions in the headway between connection-automated vehicles with improved safety at highway speeds, greater use of existing lane capacity and improvements in fuel economy.”

Now, drivers aren’t joining into the enthusiasm, but if there should ever be a robot made available for aiding the driver with loadingin heavy cargo, DCCargoMall.com would love to put that on its list of safety loadingitems, and make driving, loading, and money-dishing a much less exhausting, and safer experience.