There’s no denying the vital role that technology plays when it comes to vehicles and driving. In fact, manufacturers and companies like Tesla, Volvo, Uber, and Google have been aggressively investing in state-of-the-art engineering that has been “driving” the industry to one of its greatest achievements — automated vehicles, a.k.a.. self-driving cars.
Self-driving technology was invented and innovated in the name of safety and efficiency, but now, it’s not just cars that are becoming automated. Some manufacturers are now developing and testing self-driving trucks as well. At TQM Logistics, we provide CDL truck driver jobs in PA and across the country, and we understand that the notion of self-driving trucks might be enough to have truck drivers across the country and around the globe worried for their jobs. However, they shouldn’t be. And here’s why.
Completely Autonomous Trucks Will Need to Be Heavily Regulated
Since heavy-duty trucks are under so much more scrutiny and oversight than smaller passenger vehicles, self-driving trucks will face heavy government regulation. There’s no doubt that 80,000-pound trucks roaming across America’s highways will require vast and overarching supervision from agencies like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
This fact means that we’re still many years away from the actual rollout of fleets of automated trucks. These vehicles are still in the testing stage, with most testing being done only for short distances and in ideal road and weather conditions. Much more research will be needed before these companies can prove to the federal government that these vehicles are indeed safe and ready to hit the road.
Operating a Truck Requires Skill and Instinct
Driving a commercial truck can be challenging. Think about it — weaving your way through busy, congested areas, getting through a port, backing up to the loading dock — all this requires a certain intuition that self-driving technology won’t likely have. And not only that, but how does artificial intelligence handle and respond to a situation like a blown tire?
While humans can assess a situation like that and react accordingly, a computer needs to have all that programmed into its system. Perhaps such a sophisticated machine will exist someday, but for now, self-driving cars won’t be able to handle all the subtle nuances that driving a heavy duty requires.
In our next blog, we’ll continue to take a look at the phenomenon of self-driving technology and what it means for the trucking industry. For more information or to search for CDL truck driver jobs in MD and across the country, contact us today.
