Self-Driving 'Crash' Trucks to Hit FL Highways This Year
- Thread starter ATeam
- Start date
Florida has had self-driving cars for years. Mostly Buicks, Cadillacs, Oldsmobiles and Lincolns.
Notice that the article cited mentions Uber as one of the players in the autonomous vehicle arena. I believe that taxi cabs will be the first vehicles to use this technology in a big way. Riders now use their cell phones to summon a cab. Summoning a driverless cab will be done the same way.
After the early adopters take their first cab rides and live to tell about it, and the news reports are broadcast, trust in the technology will grow and the political and social barriers will be that much easier to overcome.
Cargo planes will be another area in which this technology is used. As FedEx chief Fred Smith says, the planes can fly themselves right now. It only remains for the use of the technology to be approved. The first self-flying planes will likely have a pilot in them so society can feel comfortable but that will pass. The next step will be unmanned planes. Then will come planes that are redesigned to maximize cargo space by totally eliminating the space and systems required to put humans in the cargo planes.
After the early adopters take their first cab rides and live to tell about it, and the news reports are broadcast, trust in the technology will grow and the political and social barriers will be that much easier to overcome.
Cargo planes will be another area in which this technology is used. As FedEx chief Fred Smith says, the planes can fly themselves right now. It only remains for the use of the technology to be approved. The first self-flying planes will likely have a pilot in them so society can feel comfortable but that will pass. The next step will be unmanned planes. Then will come planes that are redesigned to maximize cargo space by totally eliminating the space and systems required to put humans in the cargo planes.
tknight
Veteran Expediter
In a very controlled environment I can see this happening....they have the know how now....its just approval....
But something like a highway? so many variables...unless they are going to have a dedicated lane of travel from point A to point B....we've all seen the areas where they couple and uncouple triples at interchanges...
I dunno--- there's something about the name of this thread that's a little unsettling.
I had a crash-a-car as a kid. You put the thing together, aimed it more or less at a fixed object, and when it hit powerful springs inside the car would make it fly apart. Put it back together and do it again. Great fun--- and of course the car was driverless since there's no way to squeeze even the tiniest human into it.
A full size driverless crash-truck??? They might want to re-name the thing. Just sayin'.
I had a crash-a-car as a kid. You put the thing together, aimed it more or less at a fixed object, and when it hit powerful springs inside the car would make it fly apart. Put it back together and do it again. Great fun--- and of course the car was driverless since there's no way to squeeze even the tiniest human into it.
A full size driverless crash-truck??? They might want to re-name the thing. Just sayin'.
There's another part of the controlled environment.
Both industries are heavily unionized.
Here's a legislation summary regarding autonomous vehicles. Clearly, momentum is increasing toward legalizing self-driving cars and trucks.