Hauling Industry News
Myth busting: Robots Won’t Replace Truck Drivers
Don’t expect autonomous trucking to suddenly displace millions of drivers.
Expect some form of electrification to be part of every new commercial vehicle drivetrain within a decade, but the spent batteries from those vehicles will need to be recycled. They won’t have a useful life in proposed battery farms.
Those are just a couple of the conclusions in a recent report to investors about advanced technology and commercial vehicles from Alexander Potter, an analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co.
His opinions provide a sometimes-contrarian road map for how technology coming into play now will roll out in freight, logistics and other commercial applications.
“Arguably, it’s irrelevant to talk about whether robot drivers will replace humans,” Potter wrote. “Many drivers cannot be displaced. They do much more than just drive.”