I'd love the hear their justification for why this is going to lead to truckers getting paid more...
Sure there will be more hubs than there are ports, but it doesn't look good for truckers.
Not saying you were arguing any different op, just furthering the points made above and below.
It's hard to imagine that not a lot fewer unless you expect that number of trucks on roads would rise by some multiple of now.
It's true in the same way that we can say that "factory workers" in the US get paid much more than they used to. This is because they are more likely to be technicians now, who service the robotic assembly line. The nature of the job has changed with automation, and truck driving will be similar.
The last-mile drivers aren't debugging robot trucks. In the worst case the robot truck just turns back into a regular truck. No new skills required for a trucker.
But hardly enough to keep all current drivers employed.
By how much varies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elasticity_(economics)) but not that it happens.
I'm talking about more "truck miles" being produced, while you're talking about the absolute number of trucks.
Now that we understand each other, there isn't much left to argue about :)
But obviously I am not smart enough to back it up with anything or I would probably be getting acquired by Uber too.
Or do you think they will benefit from resisting all forms of automation? I doubt it will slow down the eventual outcome, which is pretty much set in stone already. But maybe I'm wrong.
Then you could have a small number of vehicles, or small companies could pop up to serve this role, that refuel automated trucks that run out and stop driving outside those automated routes (if this is even a concern).
If you are eliminating 80%+ of trucker salaries, you have a lot of money to work with.