Tesla Truck

[AKDoug]

If you got it, a truck brought it. I just watch The Irishman, Al Pacino was delivering one of Jimmy Hoffa's trademark sentiments on trucking.

The historical opposition to rail has been trucking unions and lobbyist. Once upon a time truck driving was a good career, and putting hundreds of thousands truck drivers out of work so that a train run by a couple engineers, could move a 1,000+ trucks worth a cargo per day, wasn't going to happen. The fight against automation has been happening longer then many people realize. I think that with truck driving dying as a career, that road block will eventually be lifted, but urban sprawl will be a major impediment.

I'm a businessman first, truck driver second. There's a reason why the contracts I have, and the on call work I do, can never be done with a railroad or automated trucks. They also are difficult to do by any large company, so they don't bid against me. I also own a retail business and would not be opposed to deliveries just showing up on some 50' long automated rail car.

[0ddl0t]

Commercial truck ooze passing is a major problem here, too. When they make me king taking longer than 60 seconds for a truck to complete a passing move will be a capital offense, along with entering the far left lane on three lane and wider roads.

Obviously it would be great if the overtaken steering wheel holder had the courtesy to kick off cruise control for 15 seconds, but the side by side "turtle race" is partially the fault of the governor software settings.

Unlike a hard rev-limit in a car, truck governors are set to lose power a bit more gradually so as to not waste fuel. A truck with a governor set at 60mph might be capable of putting down 400 horsepower at 60mph, 300 at 60.25, 200 at 60.5, and 100 horsepower at 60.75mph. The trailing truck needs a lot less power due to the aerodynamic draft so it might be running 1/2 mph faster than an identical lead truck. And that draft doesn't stop when the trailing truck changes lanes - it is still benefitting from the bow wake. It isn't until the trailing truck pulls alongside the cab of the leading truck that it starts breaking all/most of its own wind and that's where you'll see a lot of these trucks stalling out.

There are other factors too (which truck has more weight, which one has worn its tires into a smaller diameter, etc), but when you see a passing truck get completely "stuck" in one place & unable to complete the pass, it almost always happens right before it pulls even with the lead truck...

There is actually a software setting the fleets can enable which allows a truck to exceed its governor by a certain amount every so often to allow their drivers to pass more quickly, but few fleets use it.

[AKDoug]

My trucks are limited to 68. All of us drive them at 65 and save that last little bit for passing. Works great until the passenger car you are trying to pass kicks it up to match your speed.

We don’t have 70 or 75mph freeways so that’s not an issue.


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[RevolverRob]

I think automated trucks will be able to work well in the southern US.

Basically everything south of I40, and every where that is west of the Rockies and south of I80 will probably be able to utilize some type of automated trucking system in the future. Along with the bulk of the western US coast.

But beyond that? I doubt automation is going to work. It won't work anywhere where winter or severe weather can dramatically effect the landscape. How are automated trucks going to handle a series of F5 tornado spawning storms in Kansas? Or a blizzard in Minnesota? They simply cannot. Hell, they may not be able to handle hurricanes along I10.

At best, perhaps we'll have dedicated automated trucking routes year round in south of I-40 and seasonal routes throughout the rest of the U.S. How are seasonal routes going to save money? (Hint, they aren't).

I concur with AKDoug, it would be great to have better rail infrastructure that transports goods to centralized hubs and they are transferred to smaller trucks and distributed out, not unlike the postal service or Fed-Ex. Chances of that happening are kind of slim. As a result, I do think we need to start integrating automation where we can and help generally improve our systems.

[Grey]

I think automated trucks will be able to work well in the southern US.

Basically everything south of I40, and every where that is west of the Rockies and south of I80 will probably be able to utilize some type of automated trucking system in the future. Along with the bulk of the western US coast.

But beyond that? I doubt automation is going to work. It won't work anywhere where winter or severe weather can dramatically effect the landscape. How are automated trucks going to handle a series of F5 tornado spawning storms in Kansas? Or a blizzard in Minnesota? They simply cannot. Hell, they may not be able to handle hurricanes along I10.

At best, perhaps we'll have dedicated automated trucking routes year round in south of I-40 and seasonal routes throughout the rest of the U.S. How are seasonal routes going to save money? (Hint, they aren't).

I concur with AKDoug, it would be great to have better rail infrastructure that transports goods to centralized hubs and they are transferred to smaller trucks and distributed out, not unlike the postal service or Fed-Ex. Chances of that happening are kind of slim. As a result, I do think we need to start integrating automation where we can and help generally improve our systems.

You're going to see automated short-haul carrier fleets that emerge as automation and drone fleets work.

[Wondering Beard]

[Balisong]

Tesla truck with truck nuts. NOW I'm on board...

[Borderland]

I'm a businessman first, truck driver second. There's a reason why the contracts I have, and the on call work I do, can never be done with a railroad or automated trucks. They also are difficult to do by any large company, so they don't bid against me. I also own a retail business and would not be opposed to deliveries just showing up on some 50' long automated rail car.

Do you think the RR unions are going to allow automated freight?

The freight being moved around here by rail is mind boggling. Lots of coal coming from WY going to ships.

A good friend of mine is an operating engineers teamster. They just went thru a strike here that only lasted about 3 weeks. Shut down some pretty big construction projects. They had the hammer and got a much better contract.

[HeavyDuty]

I am I like the only person that has always thought that said “Slut Life?”

[mtnbkr]

I am I like the only person that has always thought that said “Slut Life?”

Nope. Even though I know it's Salt, I can't help but to read it as Slut.

Chris