Getfit Tommy
Highway Hero
Hours reform, importance of manned vehicles highlight FMCSA session on autonomous trucks
More than one commenter emphasized the need for a human to remain in control of the vehicle. Trucker Bryan Spoon, a board member of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, illustrated such with an extreme example of the kinds of safety decisions operators make on the road, invoking a hypothetical near-crash where the choices are to “hit this brick wall” and destroy the truck or “deviate and hit kids in a crosswalk,” Spoon said. “What choice does our automated vehicle make?” Destroy itself or “a group of schoolchildren in a crosswalk?”
“hours is a very contentious place” for regulators to go, and one where owner-operators experience many of their biggest business headaches.
In a highly-automated situation, that might even make for an opportunity to get into the bunk for sleeper-line time.
NOW HERE'S A GOOD QUESTION!: “if the driver has to be in the truck and has to have some control over it, how many hours in a row can you pay attention doing nothing”
"My biggest concern is how do we keep them occupied, busy and awake.”
A ****o mag and a bag of Meth? What... a Rubex cube and an X-box?
… You probably won’t find a distinct long-term plan to deal with hours.”
Really? But you WILL with those of us who are NOT robots, right?
FMCSA “does not require a special [CDL] endorsement for autonomous operation”
Really? What do they require? A medical marijuana card?
“What does the citizen do when a retread comes off an breaks a windshield?"
I can think of a lot more important questions than that without even putting my brain to work.
As law enforcement, how do we intervene and stop the vehicle?
....
This was all I could stomach. If someone else wants to read it, have at it.
More than one commenter emphasized the need for a human to remain in control of the vehicle. Trucker Bryan Spoon, a board member of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, illustrated such with an extreme example of the kinds of safety decisions operators make on the road, invoking a hypothetical near-crash where the choices are to “hit this brick wall” and destroy the truck or “deviate and hit kids in a crosswalk,” Spoon said. “What choice does our automated vehicle make?” Destroy itself or “a group of schoolchildren in a crosswalk?”
“hours is a very contentious place” for regulators to go, and one where owner-operators experience many of their biggest business headaches.
In a highly-automated situation, that might even make for an opportunity to get into the bunk for sleeper-line time.
NOW HERE'S A GOOD QUESTION!: “if the driver has to be in the truck and has to have some control over it, how many hours in a row can you pay attention doing nothing”
"My biggest concern is how do we keep them occupied, busy and awake.”
A ****o mag and a bag of Meth? What... a Rubex cube and an X-box?
… You probably won’t find a distinct long-term plan to deal with hours.”
Really? But you WILL with those of us who are NOT robots, right?
FMCSA “does not require a special [CDL] endorsement for autonomous operation”
Really? What do they require? A medical marijuana card?
“What does the citizen do when a retread comes off an breaks a windshield?"
I can think of a lot more important questions than that without even putting my brain to work.
As law enforcement, how do we intervene and stop the vehicle?
....
This was all I could stomach. If someone else wants to read it, have at it.
