Mastodawn

MicroWave Sep 24, 2023

California bill to have human drivers ride in autonomous trucks is vetoed by governor

California bill to have human drivers ride in autonomous trucks is vetoed by governor - Lemmy.world

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill to require human drivers on board self-driving trucks, a measure that union leaders and truck drivers said would save hundreds of thousands of jobs in the state. The legislation vetoed Friday night would have banned self-driving trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms) — ranging from UPS delivery vans to massive big rigs — from operating on public roads unless a human driver is on board. Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, head of the California Labor Federation, said driverless trucks are dangerous and called Newsom’s veto shocking. She estimates that removing drivers would cost a quarter million jobs in the state.

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Z4rK Sep 24, 2023

I may sound cynical, but protecting jobs is hardly ever a good argument for blocking new technology in my opinion. You’re at best delaying the inevitable. Society is more likely better off learning early how to use the workforce for new and better tasks. Of course, this needs a healthy and working society, so I of course understand the individual concerns.

Safety on the other hand is a very valid reason to hold back new technology.

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jonne Sep 24, 2023

Definitely agree with that, but the tech is definitely not there to handle all situations, and as long as that’s the case, a human should be there. He should’ve signed the law, and if self driving actually becomes viable enough they could repeal it then

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JasSmith Sep 24, 2023

Definitely agree with that, but the tech is definitely not there to handle all situations, and as long as that’s the case, a human should be there.

I disagree. I think the bar should be "safer than a human." If our bar were "perfect," self driving would never be permitted without a human at the wheel.

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jonne Sep 24, 2023

I’m not really talking about avoiding accidents, I’m talking about what happens after something goes wrong (accident, flat tyre, whatever). Who’s going to deal with that? Does the company need to send someone to unblock traffic? What’s the SLA on that? What if the unblocking guy is stuck in traffic?

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myusernameblows

We’re talking about big rigs here, there’s already rarely anything a driver can do to “deal with” something like a load coming loose or a flat tire anyways. All you can really do is hope you’ve noticed the problem soon enough to get off the highway, which is obviously something that an AI would be better at with its many sensors and lack of distractability.

Even in situations where the truck ends up stuck in the middle lane of a big freeway, it’s not like the driver can just get out and push it off to the side of the road. Except for a few pretty rare cases, all the driver does is set up some pylons and then sit in the sleeper and wait for the heavy duty tow truck to show up.