That difference of opinion might even be seen here. In any case the corporations (not just trucking ones) will fight it.
Charlie, truly curious, about how an opinion could argue against hourly pay encouraging safety.
I can understand that many companies will object, for financial reasons, but I canât imagine a serious argument against hourly pay being safer
What are your thoughts?
Doug
I donât think they will fight the safety issue. They will get some truckers to say they can get more loads and make more money if time is not measured. Something along those lines. Even some line like âOnly crap*y drivers want hourly pay. Do you?â
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The potential overtime would likely move some freight from trucks to trains, especially in the 1,000+ mile haul range, which a lot of that arguably should move
In the distribution side of the industry, where I have always worked, moving to rail simply isnât an option, and my segment of the industry is also the least adaptable to autonomous vehicles as well, and would likely among the last to go to autonomous trucks
Never say Never, but I am confident that my segment wonât be among the first to transition, it among the least suited to the technology
Doug
Walmart when they ran their own trucks paid for literally everything they did on the truck. They got paid a set rate per hour for sleeping in the truck loading and unloading fueling the trucks. They literally got paid for everything. But thatâs why they had a turnover rate in the single digits and the hardest hiring requirements in the entire industry. Nowadays they still have a few of their own trucks but most of their store delivery routes are done by Schneider or other mega fleets.
Youâll see a growth in intermodal before you see automated trucks. Thereâs way to much that can go wrong with a truck on the highway that an AI program wouldnât have a clue how to handle. From a mechanical breakdown tire failure load shift bad weather conditions other traffic let alone refueling the equipment or opening the doors on the trailer or dealing with shippers and receiving clerks. Also can these automated trucks hook or unhook the air and electrical lines between the equipment.
A lot of our receivers now have docks that we back into with even swing doors closed and they are able to open the doors from inside the building, then lower the dock plate into the trailer, roll up doors simplify things as well
Where I expect to see autonomous trucks make their in roads is LTL line haul, terminal to terminal a human hostler will make up and break up the sets, mostly likely doubles, and triples were allowed.
In each terminal, there will be people to do all the âGround Work â fueling, air and electrical lines and other ground duties. The autonomous trucks would run terminal to terminal, well within their fuel, potentially Charge range.
Someone would prep the combination in originating terminal, send the autonomous truck out the gate, at the other end, the autonomous truck comes in the gate, parks and someone else will break apart the combination and attend to all the ground work at that end
Even that, I donât see happening as soon as many want us to believe, but I believe that is the logical first step, where it evolves to from there, we will have to wait and see
Are autonomous trucks in the future, most likely,
Will autonomous trucks and expanded Domestic IM change the transportation industry as we know it, almost definitely. There is already freight that logically should move by Dom IM, but doesnât yet
Doug
More likely they will establish a âbonusâ system for getting loads âthere on timeâ and then ease the hourly rate down to some commodity value. Maybe even monthly or yearly âperformance awardsâ that work like professional profit-sharing.
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Careful, youâre treading into politics theređ
This thread has already touched on some rather loosely related topics, I would hate to see it get closed for a minor offense
Doug
Thatâs not politics, itâs management consulting. Iâve done something very similar for a couple dozen apartment communitiesâŚ
⌠all of which had rail lines next to themâŚ
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Jawohl, mein Freund!
Ano, musĂme se drĹžet stranou od politiky!
Si, il faut eviter la politiqueâŚ