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Comment by gnuser | Hacker News Reader

I worked in 18 a wheeler automation unicorn.

Never rode in one once for a reason.

Automate the transfer yards, shipping docks, and trucking terminals. Make movement of cargo across these limited use areas entirely automated and as smooth as butter. Queue drivers up and have their loads automatically placed up front so they can drop and hook in a few minutes and get back on the road.

I honestly think that's the _easier_ problem to solve by at least two orders of magnitude.

Did you miss the news about the recent strike by the very people you are suggesting to eliminate? This automation was one of the points of contention.

Solving the problem might not be as easy as you suggest as long as their are powerful unions involved

This automation is inevitable. The ports are a choke point created by unnatural monopoly and a labor union is the incorrect solution. Particularly because their labor actions have massive collateral damage to other labor interests.

I believe that if trucking were properly unionized the port unions would be crushed. They're not that powerful they've just outlived this particular modernization the longest out of their former contemporaries.

So a union is okay for the trucking industry, but not for the dock workers?

And what exactly will the truckers be trucking if the ports are crushed?

There are a bunch of companies working on that. So far off the top of my head I know of:

* Outrider: https://www.outrider.ai/

* Cyngn: https://www.cyngn.com/

* Fernride: https://www.fernride.com/

Any ideas what other ones are out there?

Promising. I'm actually more familiar with the actual transportation and logistics side of the operation and strictly within the USA. I haven't seen anything new put into serious operation out here yet but I'll definitely be watching for them.

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