Could self driving trucks make the union a lot less powerful?

[margaritaville]

Self driving cars are going to mainstream in the near future. Which means self driving trucks could be in the future. If a truck drives your entire route for you. UPS might not think its okay to pay drivers as much. UPS driving is hard, but this would make it so any off the street person could start up at ups with not much actual skill.

Like the union could still exist but with a lot less negotiating power?

 

[Jackburton]

Self driving vehicles can't avoid stupid. Fortunately for us there's a lot of stupid out there.

 

[IlllIIllIIlllIllIIIlIlIlI]

Self driving cars can't even drive in the rain at the moment. UPS would need to keep enough trained drivers on call in case it might flurry that day. How would a robot driver know if it ok to drive down a driveway? How would it know where its acceptable to double park? How could it hear a school bus driving around a blind corner, so it can pull over? It may be done someday, but not in our lifetimes.

 

[1BROWNWRENCH]

yeah, I can just see maintaining 50 of those for daily use.

 

[1BROWNWRENCH]

I could be like Technician 49 in "Oblivion"

 

[Johney]

Ah.......whose going to unload/load the packages? Driving is the easiest part of being a UPS driver. Dealing with all the other BS makes the job hard.

 

[cachsux]

I'll invest in Star Trek transportation beams dropping packages off inside of peoples houses before I'd expect a truck to do the job on it's own.

 

[cosmo1]

yeah, I can just see maintaining 50 of those for daily use.

Maybe they could talk to you and tell you where it hurts.

 

[IVE GOTTA PACKAGE 4U]

Ah......whose going to unload/load the packages? Driving is the easiest part of being a UPS driver. Dealing with all the other BS makes the job hard.

Watch how they make lays potato chips, sometime...its pretty cool...and scary how few workers they have.

they back the trailer up to a machine, it slowly picks it up and shakes it empty.

 

[1BROWNWRENCH]

Maybe they could talk to you and tell you where it hurts.

PID, SID 5150 Ran over pedestrian malfunction

 

[cosmo1]

PID, SID 5150 Ran over pedestrian malfunction

CEL code 90551: I'm old and tired?

 

[bleedinbrown58]

They'll have robots loading the PC's in a few years...lol

 

[cosmo1]

They'll have robots loading the PC's in a few years...lol

Probably.

Keep an eye out behind you!

 

[JL 0513]

Even though the tech is there to some capacity now, self automated cars and trucks are still many years away to practical use. There's a million hurdles to clear and who knows if the infrastructure will ever handle it. Can cameras and sensors work in every conceivable situation? I doubt it.

Remember cars were supposed to be flying 14 years ago?

They'll have robots loading the PC's in a few years...lol

A few years? Clearly you're not serious. Even in 20 years, we will still be lifting packages the old fashioned way, with our backs. The difference with loading/unloading trucks vs what robots are used for is that it is an uncontrolled job situation. Robots are good at performing tasks in which the conditions never change. You throw infinite number of box sizes, shapes, and weights at a robot and ask it to build a tight load equals not so easy. It would need to be a highly advanced android with near artificial intelligence to do what we do.

 

[PT Car Washer]

There will be self flying Air Freighters before self driving trucks. A giant drone.

 

[PT Car Washer]

They'll have robots loading the PC's in a few years...lol

Preloaders work cheaper and when they break we just find another one for less pay.

 

[Packmule]

UPS management can't get EDD or the dispatch to work right. Program a truck to drive itself? With all our different time commits? Love to see that happen.

 

[Wally]

I hope it remembers to fill up on the way in.

 

[CHALLY9TX]

I can see unloaders being replaced by robots. Robots that unload trailers already exist.


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[Brownslave688]

Honestly I think it's very short sighted that no one sees this as a threat. If short term you're talking 10 years then no I don't see it as a threat. In the next 50 years though yes I would be very surprised if this doesn't happen.

Never underestimate the speed of technology. Exponentially it is increasing every year. In another 10-20 years microchips will likely cost pennies and be everywhere.

This will be terrible for the economy though. Think about how many people make a living driving a vehicle.