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Comment by 0cf8612b2e1e | Hacker News Reader

I have long thought that fixed distance trucking is the most approachable self driving outcome. Do not attempt the billion messy real world scenarios which occur in urban environments when surrounded by humans.

Make a few hubs that are well outside of city centers that are connected by nothing but straight interstate. AI can drive the truck on this boring fixed route. Humans then take over the short distance to bring it to the actual delivery location.

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The highest volume OTR shipping lane is LA to Phoenix, which is already the perfect place for self driving vehicles.

I've been saying for years, trucks should drive autonomously from one mega parking lot outside a city to another at nighttime, and have humans handle the last mile during the 7-3 shift.

congratulations! you're invented an inefficient railway

The US already has the best freight rail network in the world my many measures but you can't put every shipment on a train.

Do you think long haul trucking does not exist today? Use a train when you can, but that is not always an option.

There's no operating rail between LA and Phoenix, freight or passenger. Union Pacific rerouted freight away from Phoenix decades ago, Amtrak followed suit, and the previously used rail line that connected LA and Phoenix is out of service. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Subdivision_(Union_Pac... and https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html

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