Journaist who covered the Freightiner/State of Nevada annuncment last week here. The article's summary of the current state of truck autonomy is quite cogent There's an explainer link below for those looking for more detail, but the point Daimler Trucks execs and engineers emphasized is that they have no plans to pursue Level 4 (no driver needed) autonomy. (Although I don't recall that they were pushed on a timeframe for that commitment.)

So, as is, this is very much a tool to benefit drivers; i.e., cruise control with steering. But the critical point, as the article notes before taking the leap truck drivers are soon to disappear, is that trucking is big business (collectively) and if this technology can be suppoerted by the business case, then it will be adopted as rapidly as pubic policy permits.

However, the author doesn't take into consideration a couple of things:

1: The trucking industry is having a very hard time finding drivers (waaaay tough gig for over-the-road guys). While this may support the notion that trucking companies will rush to adopt autonomus vehicle tech, it takes away some of the punch of his basic income thesis: people don't want to do this job.

Truck drivers come from the same pool as construction laborers and factory workers, and when the economy is good there's a driver shortage because workers prefer jobs that let them go home every night compared to sleeping in a truck for weeks at a time. So in this case, basic income is, at best, a trucking industry subsidy. Otherwise, it's make-work.

2: The trucking industry is very fragmented. We're all familiar with many of the big fleet names we see on trailers every day, and while these mega-carriers haul a large percentage of the freight, they're far outnumbered by the number of companies with five or fewer trucks. And there's a great deal of conflict between the policies sought by well-capitalized larger firms (with money to invest in new tech and often lobby to have it manadated) and the Joe's Trucking Cos who are one breakdown or accident from going out of business. But Joe stays in businees because because he fills a niche the big guys aren't interested in.

And Joe ain't going to buy a robot, not that he'd mind staying in the office while his truck deivers freight without him, but because he can't afford it.

So either the fully driverless truck is going to become so operationally efficient that big trucking companies can move into these niches and fill spot demand, or the technology is going to be so affordabe that the little guy adopts it and then uses his niche expertise to grow is business. Both are wins for the overall economy, with the latter actually staving off a further concentration of capital--which I guess would be a good thing for the basic income crowd. (And as a journlist, I assure you I'm not averse to the concept.)

http://news.trucker.com/technology/freightliner-s-autonomous...