You guys aren't getting it. This whole ground crew idea is a non-starter for 80% of shipping across the US.
The shipper makes the product.
The receiver wants the product.
NEITHER OF THEM WANT ANYTHING MORE TO DO WITH GETTING IT THERE THAN THEY HAVE TO.
Example,This load:
Ok, ya'll probably don't even see what you're looking at, because you guys are like every other shipper/receiver on the planet for the most part. Ignorant. It's not that you're stupid (and I'm not calling anyone that), but it's that you literally don't know the huge amount regulations that are accessible and in the open. You would rely on me, and my knowledge of the regulations for shipping, in order to make sure your stuff gets from A to B as desired and in the condition it was in when loaded. Pretty much the norm. What's an AI going to do? Display the FMCSA securement regulations on a display on the side and automatically open some boxes for load straps and chains? I think not.
fun fact: there's more commercial vehicle regulations than there are commercial aviation regulations.
If this had been loaded by the shipper and by the shipper only without any input from me, onto an AI pulling the flatbed, it would have rolled out the door illegally. He would have just had shit piled on with no way to secure it, it wouldn't have BEEN secured, and it would have pleasantly just gone out the gate and put a alloy spear through someone's windshield at the first bump.
There is no legal mechanism to find the shipper responsible for cargo misloading/packaging unless it's an in-depth hazmat inspection and even then, it's going to be a court battle. Everything as far as legal responsibility for the shipment itself and it's safe conduct from point A to B is on the driver, and on the company, depending on where it falls on the matrix of "who do we cite".
There's 3 entities involved in the whole shipment, and only 1 is criminally liable during the entire shipping process, so that 1 is going to make sure they can actually make sure the other 2 aren't trying to pull a fast one. That means you need a human as part of the shipment, and minimum wage isn't going to cut it. I have a former DOE OST broham who does civvie side nuclear transport. The amount of mislabeled, mispackaged shit is astounding and he gets paid the big bucks to ship that stuff, as he has to know ALL the regulations to be able to inspect, repackage as necessary, properly secure, and properly transport said cargo. Open deck is the same way, specific cargos need specific securement depending on weight, position, size, etc etc. Look at how people tie shit down in a pickup truck bed or on a regular utility trailer, then look at my trailer. Big difference between what you'd get minimum wage quality and what you get with a professional doing the job.
There's 24 different independent securements on that load to make sure that everything on that deck doesn't go anywhere. Chains, straps. Edge protection to make sure things don't cut straps. Edge protection to make sure chains don't damage stuff.
That deck is several thousand visual and tactile inspection points. What AI is going to do those? Expecting an AI to do that is literally expecting an AI to be able to JMPI a jumper. Good luck with that. How's a load sensor going to help in the middle of nowhere if it pings that something broke? Human will have seen it start to fray and protected it/replaced it, sensor is just a GO/NOGO thing. Now your AI truck is deadlined 200 miles from anywhere on the side of I-10, waiting for hours for a rescue crew to replace a fricking 2" strap. congrats, the truck's stopped. Now instead of making money it's costing money.
What ground crew is going to do those when it's the mass of shipping in the US, which is irregular freight from point A to B? What ground crew is going to be going to bumfuck Montana in the middle of farmland to a lat-long then unloading a new skidsteer and teaching the owner the basics, then loading their old one as a tradein?
The only way an AI truck could do my job is if it came with a T-800 to do the securement too.
It's hard enough to find all the drivers that the industry needs specifically because of the fact that they won't fucking pay us what we're worth... which is why I am an owner operator, I bill the same rate as the big guys but *I* make more because 1/4 or more of the load's rate isn't going to support corporate bullshit.
As it is, except for rare local positions, you aren't paid hourly at all. It's per mile you move cargo. The point of going AI trucking is to cut out the 1/4 - 1/3 of the load rate that goes to pay/insure the driver, and instead pocket it in the corporate pocket. You also don't understand the industry either, as 70% of the trucks on the road today are part of 10 or less truck fleets, with about half being straight owner ops, single human shows like myself. There's not going to be any small fleets or owner ops like myself buying an AI truck. That shit's going to be way more expensive than my rig now, and my rig now, new, is >$140k. Yep, my big rig costs more than a Maserati. How ya like me now?
Someone mentioned a human assistant. So you're going to have a human ride along, but not actually operate the vehicle, or otherwise cut their pay as the vehicle doesn't require their operation at all.... So we already discussed the point that going AI is intended to remove the human. Now you want to pay someone even MORE SHIT (plenty of drivers at megafleets are barely clearing a grand a week after taxes, with operation of the vehicle inherent in the job) and have them away from their home/family riding a truck they have no say in where it goes and isn't going to be stopping for piss breaks shits or anything else, because the whole point of going AI is being able to have a low cost vehicle going at the most aerodynamically efficient speed and configuration, across the US, nonstop, so your amazon dildos get to your doorstep in time for you to go fuck yourself.
Oh, and that last 3 word bit is what every driver in the industry right now would tell you if you told them now they're an AI bitch and getting paid half their current rate if not less.
Now fedex? UPS? That could be AI'ed relatively easy. I'm sure everyone who's driven past a wiggle wagon set of doubles/triples is completely comfortable with letting a computer handle a 100ft multi-pivot-point semi-stable combination vehicle on the roadways next to them at 70mph. But, they're doing distribution center to distribution center work, so they would own it wholly from A to Z and THERE they could have the human checks to make sure the robotruck can do it's thing. Except those humans would be Teamsters. Think Puerto Rico was bad with the truckers union striking after the hurricane? Pffft let's replace the vast majority of employees of the biggest (dirtiest) union in the USA with robots and see what happens.
