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Freightliner unveils the first road-legal self-driving truck

Ethnod
By Ethnod
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And so it starts, the road to the end of the truck driving industry as we know it. Not sure its a bad thing to be honest as its a pretty terrible job with long ass hours and a very unsociable life but none the less the end we all know was coming is starting.

 

15C466_019-980x735.jpg

 

Maybe its my time playing ETS but its a good lucking truck :)

 

So on the 5th of May there was a ceremony on the Hoover Dam (I am sure there is some significance there but it escapes me tbh) where the truck, called Inspiration Truck, was officially given an autonomous vehicle license plate (which to me looks very different from regular plates if you check the pictures, but then again I am not from the US) by the governor of Nevada.

For the moment there is no pricing, details of availability or anything like that as this was a symbolic first step and there will be a lot of testing and also the US federal government has yet to make up their minds or even make rules for this but in reality they need to get their asses in gear as innovation waits for no man.

 

15C466_012-980x735.jpg

 

The Inspiration Truck has the same rating as the Google self-driving car which means its fully autonomous but yet a driver can take over needed or the desire is there. It also means that the Truck would be theoretically be able to drive it’s self for hundreds of miles without any issues. Although we will need to also invent an automated refuelling system for these trucks if that is to be the case.

 

15C466_003-980x735.jpg

 

Daimler, the parent company, is pitching this to the industry as a fix for driver fatigue. According to the article 90% of all truck involves accidents are driver error (although that does not seem right tbh, maybe driver error and not truck driver error but sure) and 1/8 of them are due to driver fatigue and this could drastically help with that. I am sure K.I.T. will come into it soon enough where K.I.T. will take over if you are tired or start drifting or even have a heart attack, an LSD flashback or something.

 

So The Inspiration Truck uses "Highway Pilot" which is Daimler's autonomous driving technology. This tech uses a combination of radar, stereo computer vision, and other sensors to stay on the road but will need a driver to always be in the truck in case someone needs to take over or there are no road markings as seems that it uses this also to steer.

 

All we need is for these lights to start rolling left to right and back :P

15C466_026-980x735.jpg

Wont be long now, between Audi, Google, Mercedes, Tesla… the future is looking safer every day J

 

Source:

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2015/05/freightliner-unveils-the-first-road-legal-self-driving-truck/

 

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I feel like it will help cut down on drivers being too tired but for things like parking or driving in small towns or cities, I feel a driver will still be needed for a few years at the least.

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Source please?

 

edit: I am also curious as to how things like this will effect the classes needed for a commercial license.

This will require a lot of learning on behalf of the operators, inspectors, and mechanics. This should be interesting.

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Seriously, just takes the fun out of driving. But not a semi, not at all.

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Damn this is good. Those truck drivers often make long hours and then mess up because they are very tired, this could really help with that! 

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That is one GOOD looking truck

 

Seriously, just takes the fun out of driving. But not a semi, not at all.

 

 

not everyone likes driving

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So ... the Driver can be free of driving but still needs to be in the truck in case something happened ? Well that's great ... Driving can be a stressful job ... 

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So ... the Driver can be free of driving but still needs to be in the truck in case something happened ? Well that's great ... Driving can be a stressful job ... 

Exactly, the driver can rest and only be needed in case of something the computer might not be able to do or deal with.

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Seriously, just takes the fun out of driving. But not a semi, not at all.

Driving the entire day (and night) doesn't sound all that fun. 

 

On a side note, I really would like to try driving a semi with at least an 11-speed crashbox. 

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That is one GOOD looking truck

 
 

 

not everyone likes driving

I would love driving. especially just feeling a car just strain while curving, etc.

 

Driving the entire day (and night) doesn't sound all that fun. 

 

On a side note, I really would like to try driving a semi with at least an 11-speed crashbox. 

Of course not, driving long periods of time isn't good for you anyway.

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I would love driving. especially just feeling a car just strain while curving, etc.

Yeah but not everyone does, and lots of people have to drive for work purposes in a shitty company car, like the sales staff for my company spend half their day on the motorway  etc , its boring as hell and they could do their emails and paperwork in the car instead of staring at the road for half their working hours

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I would be scared as fuck to be anywhere near that vehicle.

If it fucks up in any way the damage it will make will be lot bigger and much deadlier to drivers nearby.

Why can't they license a personal vehicle 1st, step it up to a van and then truck :/

On the other note Taxi drivers and truck drivers will be thing of the past in few decades. Kinda mind blowing if u ask me !

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Really, this will make unemployment worse in america. just wait. america will suffer.

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Exactly, the driver can rest and only be needed in case of something the computer might not be able to do or deal with.

Now the real question is ... Will those Drivers get a raise or a wage cut ?

... Life is a game and the checkpoints are your birthday , you will face challenges where you may not get rewarded afterwords but those are the challenges that help you improve yourself . Always live for tomorrow because you may never know when your game will be over ... I'm totally not going insane in anyway , shape or form ... I just have broken English and an open mind ... 

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This was in my local news and all the people are scared of this technology.

Lord of Helium.

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Source please?

 

edit: I am also curious as to how things like this will effect the classes needed for a commercial license.

This will require a lot of learning on behalf of the operators, inspectors, and mechanics. This should be interesting.

 

Not sure where the OP got his source from, it could be this story that Verge put up yesterday.

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this i like. I could get behind this. 

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And so it starts, the road to the end of the truck driving industry as we know it. 

 

 

Really, this will make unemployment worse in america. just wait. america will suffer.

 

Why would this "end the truck driving industry" like the OP said?

 

This is an example of how progress and technology have improved the industry—making it faster, far safer, and more reliable than it was.

yesterday's weirdness is tomorrow's reason why

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No doubt a driver will have to be present and I thought Mercedes was there first, also i heard Japan was trialing autonomous trucks awhile ago :S

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No doubt a driver will have to be present and I thought Mercedes was there first, also i heard Japan was trialing autonomous trucks awhile ago :S

this one is road legal. That's the difference

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why dont we have a system of trucks linked to computers such running applications that resembled ETS that way  truck drivers could stay home and still drive all day and get paid for it (and get to be with their families in the afternoon) xD

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Source please?

 

edit: I am also curious as to how things like this will effect the classes needed for a commercial license.

This will require a lot of learning on behalf of the operators, inspectors, and mechanics. This should be interesting.

 

Was in work, totally forgot :/

Updated now

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