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Daddy, What Was a Truck Driver?
Wall Street Journal ^ | July 23, 2013 | DENNIS K. BERMAN

Posted on 07/27/2013 10:36:25 AM PDT by JerseyanExile

Edited on 07/27/2013 10:40:27 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]

Over the Next Two Decades, the Machines Themselves Will Take Over the Driving.

Caterpillar will have 45 self-directed trucks at a mine in Australia.

And then one day, man went the way of the mule.

Some 5.7 million Americans are licensed as professional drivers, steering the country's vast fleets of delivery vans, UPS trucks and tractor-trailers.


(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: autonomousvehicles; transport; trucking; unmannedvehicles
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Comment #21 Removed by Moderator

To: bigheadfred
um... I am an elitist, because I want to be able to hire people who are unemployed and want to work, but can't do so currently because it isn't affordable? ok...
22 posted on 07/27/2013 11:03:34 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009 (Obama lied .. the economy died.)
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To: bigheadfred; TexasFreeper2009

Your scenarios are not at odds.
Obviously the job would have to pay more than sitting on your ass collecting checks. That’s the price people are willing to work for - and it costs more than just automating the labor.


23 posted on 07/27/2013 11:05:32 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (Making good people helpless doesn't make bad people harmless.)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

Maybe they would line up around your house and just take what they wanted.


24 posted on 07/27/2013 11:05:48 AM PDT by bigheadfred (INFIDEL)
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To: bigheadfred

Truck driver, railroad engineers are heavily regulated as to number ours per day they can actually drive. Driverless rigs could run 24/7.


25 posted on 07/27/2013 11:07:23 AM PDT by umgud (2A can't survive dem majorities)
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To: bigheadfred

Are people living from living off the public dole “elitist”? They have a small army of servants at the right price of “free”.


26 posted on 07/27/2013 11:09:41 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (Making good people helpless doesn't make bad people harmless.)
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To: kingu
What is a train engineer? Realistically, there is no better test bed for autonomous driving than freight and passenger trains. It is a fixed track with limited points of interaction and scheduled stops. There really is no need of a driver for these vehicles, yet it is very rare to find actually driverless trains.

This train had a "driver".


27 posted on 07/27/2013 11:12:02 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: TexasFreeper2009
I personally would have a small army of servants if the price were right.

I think there used to be a group of people in this country who were doing just that. I think they fought a war over it.

28 posted on 07/27/2013 11:12:17 AM PDT by bigheadfred (INFIDEL)
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To: bigheadfred

the fact of the matter is:

every time you go out to eat, you are hiring a small army of servants. Every time you get your car washed, your lawn mowed, have your house cleaned, get something fixed around the house, drop your clothes off at the cleaners, ect, ect.. you are hiring a small army of servants.

Government has just made it difficult and or expensive to hire these servants directly, so we let others hire them and we basically subcontract the servants out on an as needed basis.

If it makes me an “eliteist” for wanting to get government out of the equation and hire these people directly, them I will gladly accept the name.

But don’t kid yourself into thinking YOU are any different. Look behind the counter the next time you are cramming a big mac into your mouth at McDonalds and ask yourself if those poor people working there wouldn’t be better off working directly for you. Then go look into the mirror and see who is responsible for their plight.


29 posted on 07/27/2013 11:13:39 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009 (Obama lied .. the economy died.)
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To: ctdonath2

Yes they are. And smarter than the people who continue to provide for them.


30 posted on 07/27/2013 11:13:55 AM PDT by bigheadfred (INFIDEL)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

My daughter’s first job was collecting carts in the local supermarket parking lot - sadly, she had to join the union. One day, we were at Target, and she noticed the kid doing the same (non union) job had a battery powered trolley, that made the process much more efficient. “Gee Daddy, I wonder why we don’t have one of those?” she asked. “Because machines don’t pay union dues” was my reply. BTW, in a year of working that job, she came to loathe unions more than she had in the previous 16 years living under my roof ;)


31 posted on 07/27/2013 11:18:16 AM PDT by jttpwalsh
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To: reg45

Oh, the CB radio will be around as long as there are low techie knuckle draggers like me around.


32 posted on 07/27/2013 11:19:27 AM PDT by pmac (From the lawless regions of Eastern Ca, next to free America)
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To: F15Eagle

**He didn’t stop at a roadside diner, though.**

...and tell a bunch of stories to other drivers that were probably just tall tales (one reason that I avoid the diners most of the time). The truck stops would go broke not selling all the junkfood and pop that they do now.

The local airport has ten agplanes spraying fungicide on cornfields in west central IL this week. I wonder how long before farmers will have their own uav to handle that chore.


33 posted on 07/27/2013 11:21:18 AM PDT by Zuriel (Acts 2:38,39....nearly 2,000 years and still working today!)
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To: TexasFreeper2009
I never said I was any different. I do take offense that you think I would eat a Big Mac though. Not that it matters I guess. We can't afford to eat out.

Every time you get your car washed, your lawn mowed, have your house cleaned, get something fixed around the house, drop your clothes off at the cleaners, etc...

We do all those things ourselves.

I think my window of opportunity of having my own business in my field is shut tight.

I'm not trying to make you mad. And I don't know what the answer is. I would like to see them ship about 25 million people back where they came from. And lock the gate.

34 posted on 07/27/2013 11:24:44 AM PDT by bigheadfred (INFIDEL)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

Most. Class A drivers are NOT union. The pay is low with long hours.


35 posted on 07/27/2013 11:28:09 AM PDT by DownInFlames
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To: bigheadfred

I am sorry liberals have ruined this great nation. I too would love to deport about 50 million people and lock the doors forever.


36 posted on 07/27/2013 11:30:21 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009 (Obama lied .. the economy died.)
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To: jttpwalsh
One day, we were at Target, and she noticed the kid doing the same (non union) job had a battery powered trolley, that made the process much more efficient.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anyQKXe_e2s

37 posted on 07/27/2013 11:34:45 AM PDT by cynwoody
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To: TexasFreeper2009
liberals have ruined this great nation

IMO, if we last thru obama and they put in another like him there will be a tipping point.

38 posted on 07/27/2013 11:38:22 AM PDT by bigheadfred (INFIDEL)
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To: cynwoody

Yes, the same device. Where my daughter worked, they were limited to five carts, at a time. That video showed well over 50 !


39 posted on 07/27/2013 11:40:00 AM PDT by jttpwalsh
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Click.

Whether your donation is $5, $10, $20, $50 or $100 or more,
it will help keep FR alive
and will be sincerely and truly appreciated!!

40 posted on 07/27/2013 11:40:49 AM PDT by RedMDer (When immigrants cannot or will not assimilate, its really just an invasion. Throw them out!)
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