Curious how this goes.



"Driverless Opens a New Window. " trucks are on the road and making deliveries in between Dallas and Houston.

Kodiak Robotics Opens a New Window. built the self-driving trucks and confirmed they are on the Texas highways in plain view. But don't worry, they have a driver in them, just in case.

"For now, this technology Opens a New Window. is in the testing and development phase and, for the foreseeable future, until it's absolutely safe, we're always going to have a safety driver in the driver's seat," Don Burnette, Kodiak CEO and co-founder, told FOX Business' Stuart Varney on "Varney & Co."

Now, let's say that truck gets into a wreck. Who is liable? Burnette says, ultimately, the liability rests on Kodiak Robotics since they are being developed and operated by them.

"That's why we take safety as our absolute top priority," Burnette said. "At the end of the day, our safety drivers are professionally trained, extremely experienced truck drivers. We take incredible precautions to ensure nothing bad can happen on the road with our technology, but ultimately, the liability rests on Kodiak."

At the moment, the truck is on a very wide, straight road with very little traffic. Burnette said that was intentional.

"We want to develop this technology in places that are less challenging technically than the urban environments," Burnette said. "That's why at Kodiak we've decided to focus specifically on what we call the 'middle mile' for freight delivery."

What Burnette means by "middle mile" is the areas of roadways like on-ramps, straight highways and off-ramps. He believes that type of driving will help them develop the technology sooner.



https://www.foxbusiness.com/te...houston-dallas-texas

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"That's why we take safety as our absolute top priority," Burnette said. "At the end of the day, our safety drivers are professionally trained, extremely experienced truck drivers. We take incredible precautions to ensure nothing bad can happen on the road with our technology, but ultimately, the liability rests on Kodiak."

I expected to open this thread and think these things would be very dangerous to everyone on the road. But it sounds like they are doing it right. I have no problem with this. It sounds kind of like an auto-pilot feature that the pilot can turn off and take over.

I suppose I'd take a self-driving truck over one driven by a buzzed, tired or just plain jerk truck driver. (No, I'm not tarring all truck drivers with that brush. I actually wanted to be one for a while.)

I'd like to see how these self driving trucks handle the mountain passes here in Utah.

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I expected to open this thread and think these things would be very dangerous to everyone on the road. But it sounds like they are doing it right. I have no problem with this. It sounds kind of like an auto-pilot feature that the pilot can turn off and take over.

Yeah, I'm not against this technology either. But caution should be the top priority, obviously. It's amazing to consider the possibilities, and also hard to imagine trucks/vehicles overcoming certain challenges like weather. I can't envision self-driving trucks navigating the Rocky Mountains in the winter, as one example.

It's easy to see the efficiencies in self-driving vehicles, and it could revolutionize the roadways, but there's a big part of me that doesn't want to give up my option to "drive" my own vehicle. I'm curious to see how this aspect will be dealt with by the powers that be. There will be a large control component, no doubt. Cars are very personal items to many people.

That guy that darts across three or four lanes because he is about to miss his exit. Robot reflex check

Duel. Starring Dennis Weaver:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SutDTIhbQ2g

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I'd like to see how these self driving trucks handle the mountain passes here in Utah.

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At the end of the day, our safety drivers are professionally trained, extremely experienced truck drivers.

When the day comes and they eliminate the driver and one of these trucks malfunctions and causes a pile up on the interstate, it will be a law firm’s wet dream come true.

That's a situation I think they'd handle well. The road are well mapped, the computer will know whats coming up, and will know all of the trucks parameter. The rest is physics. Computers do physics calculations very well, much better than people.

Where I see them having problems is dealing with problems caused randomly by other drivers. And even there, with nearly instant reflexes, more and better sensors, and no gaps in attention, I think they'll do better than human drivers.

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Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
I'd like to see how these self driving trucks handle the mountain passes here in Utah.

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Originally posted by BBMW:

Where I see them having problems is dealing with problems caused randomly by other drivers. And even there, with nearly instant reflexes, more and better sensors, and no gaps in attention, I think they'll do better than human drivers.

That may be. There are accidents nearly daily involving semis on I-80 down Parley's Canyon, and the fault is probably 90% that of amateur drivers in their little shitbox cars or giant SUV's. They simply do not have the proper knowledge or respect to share the road with these trucks. It'd be interesting to see how these computers handle these inconsiderate, inattentive, and very unskilled drivers down a constant 6% grade.

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Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
I'd like to see how these self driving trucks handle the mountain passes here in Utah.

They'll do better than you think. My buddies Tesla Model S can handle the drive from SLC to Evanston with zero problems. Gearing down for steep grades would be the biggest issue that I see.

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And if the brakes fail on the downhill pass??? Sumtingwong. Bingdangow. Holeefook.

As long as the mapping service, GPS, is updated every day, cause we know that that isn't true now!
What about weather wiping out bridges, culverts, washouts, flooding etc.?
A truck ahead takes out a bridge, or other catastrophe shortly ahead of the driverless truck, when the system comes mainstream
Then when 'some' companies, play fast and loose with maintenance?
Hijacking, hacking, lots of opportunities there.
Will be interesting!

If the map/GPS are already in the computer you would think that the truck would automatically grab the appropriate gear, based on load, etc, as it approached the downward slope?

I'm curious, do trains really need engineers? It would seem getting rid of railroad engineers would be easier than getting rid of truck drivers. Why aren't we reading about the amazing new autonomous locomotives?

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Originally posted by Bytes:

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Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
I'd like to see how these self driving trucks handle the mountain passes here in Utah.

They'll do better than you think. My buddies Tesla Model S can handle the drive from SLC to Evanston with zero problems. Gearing down for steep grades would be the biggest issue that I see.

There's a shitload more things involved than just gearing down. Sometimes everything fails, and you're just screwed. Will the computer recognize an acceptable place to run off the road? Will it be able to identify a runaway truck ramp and make the decision to use it?

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Hence my question...

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Originally posted by trapper189:
I'm curious, do trains really need engineers? It would seem getting rid of railroad engineers would be easier than getting rid of truck drivers. Why aren't we reading about the amazing new autonomous locomotives?

Because locomotive Engineers need jobs. Don't you remember the brouhaha when railroads decided to eliminate the Firemen on Diesel locomotives? Or when they did away with the Caboose (and the person who sas stationed there)?

flashguy