Should we UPS drivers fear driverless technology?

Sissy Brown Short Shorts

Well-Known Member
I was hired as a driver one year ago today.
My nephew has said to me he wants to be a driver when he is older. How much longer are our jobs safe due to driverless technology?
The only thing I see happening in the next 10-20 years are automated feeders driving long distances on interstate highways, especially out west with hundreds of miles of straight flat roads. Then those automated trucks will stop outside of its final destinations near cities and people will get in and do the deliveries. It’ll save companies boatloads on OT and they can run those trucks 24/7 without worrying about DOT. The tech for those feeders to maneuver around city streets, back onto docks, unload, reload, recharge etc is decades away. Local, state and federal laws need to be changed, regulations need to be put in place. Liability and insurance etc. Plus the cost of acquiring those trucks, updating the tech and training people on it, very few companies could afford it. I dont think there’s anything to fear in package delivery. Constant stopping and going, finding parking spots, knowing the ins and outs of specific stops, where to go. Package selection and actually delivering it. People will be needed for that for a long time.
 
That's what news does. They are full of it. Just like renewable energy was supposed to be the wave of the future.
Almost all of the gasoline sold in my state has 10 to 15% ethanol and we are striving to be self sufficient in electricity with wind turbines. Renewable energy is the wave of the future and the present.
 
The only thing I see happening in the next 10-20 years are automated feeders driving long distances on interstate highways, especially out west with hundreds of miles of straight flat roads. Then those automated trucks will stop outside of its final destinations near cities and people will get in and do the deliveries. It’ll save companies boatloads on OT and they can run those trucks 24/7 without worrying about DOT. The tech for those feeders to maneuver around city streets, back onto docks, unload, reload, recharge etc is decades away. Local, state and federal laws need to be changed, regulations need to be put in place. Liability and insurance etc. Plus the cost of acquiring those trucks, updating the tech and training people on it, very few companies could afford it. I dont think there’s anything to fear in package delivery. Constant stopping and going, finding parking spots, knowing the ins and outs of specific stops, where to go. Package selection and actually delivering it. People will be needed for that for a long time.
Similar to putting our loads on rail cars to move across the country except UPS will be in control. Package delivery has already been dumbed down to where it is a $20/hr job. RPCD drivers will gradually be a thing of the past. Just like $38/hr PT Preloaders.
 

zubenelgenubi

I'm a star
Almost all of the gasoline sold in my state has 10 to 15% ethanol and we are striving to be self sufficient in electricity with wind turbines. Renewable energy is the wave of the future and the present.

That striving has been going on for a very long time. Old solar panels, new solar farms, decommissioned wind farms, are all ecological disasters, not nearly as renewable as advertised. Hydro-power is pretty good, if you have rivers for it, but then there's the issue of fish spawning beds, so the progressives keep tearing dams out, which is also hurting the availability of drinkable, fresh water, d'oh!

Ethanol has 30% less energy density than gas, so you have to burn more of that E10 to get the same miles. And the amount of arable land needed to grow the feedstock for ethanol production is a major limiter. Let's see, then there's algae. Dead end. Wave energy? Salt water and barnacles make maintenance too costly.

About the only alternative energy source to petrol that looks to have a future at this point is next gen nuclear, but people are too scared of that. Maybe cold fusion will finally get all the kinks worked out.
 
That striving has been going on for a very long time. Old solar panels, new solar farms, decommissioned wind farms, are all ecological disasters, not nearly as renewable as advertised. Hydro-power is pretty good, if you have rivers for it, but then there's the issue of fish spawning beds, so the progressives keep tearing dams out, which is also hurting the availability of drinkable, fresh water, d'oh!

Ethanol has 30% less energy density than gas, so you have to burn more of that E10 to get the same miles. And the amount of arable land needed to grow the feedstock for ethanol production is a major limiter. Let's see, then there's algae. Dead end. Wave energy? Salt water and barnacles make maintenance too costly.

About the only alternative energy source to petrol that looks to have a future at this point is next gen nuclear, but people are too scared of that. Maybe cold fusion will finally get all the kinks worked out.
Many years ago they said the same thing about steam power, the horseless carriage and powered air flight. Who could imagine a million pound aircraft flying across the ocean at thousands of feet. Impossible.
 

Sissy Brown Short Shorts

Well-Known Member
Similar to putting our loads on rail cars to move across the country except UPS will be in control. Package delivery has already been dumbed down to where it is a $20/hr job. RPCD drivers will gradually be a thing of the past. Just like $38/hr PT Preloadere
Similar to putting our loads on rail cars to move across the country except UPS will be in control. Package delivery has already been dumbed down to where it is a $20/hr job. RPCD drivers will gradually be a thing of the past. Just like $38/hr PT Preloaders.
Similar to putting our loads on rail cars to move across the country except UPS will be in control. Package delivery has already been dumbed down to where it is a $20/hr job. RPCD drivers will gradually be a thing of the past. Just like $38/hr PT Preloaders.
I do agree with that. I’m probably the last generation of RPCD and I got in right under the wire before this 22.4 crap started.
 

zubenelgenubi

I'm a star
Many years ago they said the same thing about steam power, the horseless carriage and powered air flight. Who could imagine a million pound aircraft flying across the ocean at thousands of feet. Impossible.

Hey, I'm not saying I don't want this stuff to happen, I just haven't been impressed with the advances, or lack thereof, being made. Solar farms on the moon with wireless power transmission might work out. Who knows? I don't know how many articles I've read about promising new technology, with not a single one making it to commercial production.
 
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