Requiring Drivers in Driverless Trucks is Like Requiring...

Last week, The Teamsters issued a press release “calling on Texas lawmakers to pass House Bill 4402 (HB 4402), critical legislation requiring trained human operators in autonomous vehicles (AVs), following its passage out of the Texas House Committee on Transportation.”

The press release adds:

“Requiring a human operator in a driverless truck isn’t unreasonable — it’s common sense,” said Brent Taylor, President of Teamsters Joint Council 80 in Dallas and Southern Region International Vice President. “There are hundreds of thousands of Texans who turn a key for a living. They have mortgages, medical bills, and families to support. We can’t let out-of-state billionaires steal their jobs with reckless automation. We must protect their livelihoods by passing this critical bill into law.”

As Jason Cannon reported in CCJ, “a similar bill [requiring trained human operators in autonomous vehicles] has been introduced in California a number of times and has even passed both houses, but has been twice vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.”

I understand the Teamster’s concern about the potential loss of jobs, but requiring a driver in a driverless truck is not reasonable; it’s redundant -- like having a person sit in an EZ-Pass toll booth as cars and trucks pass by without stopping. Or requiring seeds in seedless grapes. It makes more sense to just call for the ban of autonomous trucks altogether.

Will driverless trucks bring the extinction of truck drivers? If so, not any time soon.

Based on surveys we’ve done with members of our Indago supply chain research community — who are all supply chain and logistics executives from manufacturing, retail, and distribution companies — very few companies are currently testing driverless trucks to ship or receive goods. “I believe we are still 10 years out before this technology is adopted and safe for all involved,” said one executive member in an August 2022 survey. “Our company would get involved once our carrier base has thoroughly tested the driverless capabilities and proven their risk to be zero.”

And it won’t be a wholesale replacement, either. Driverless trucks will have a “sweet spot” in transportation operations, such as long-haul moves on interstate highways away from large urban areas. 

(For more insights from our Indago research community on this topic, see “The Long, Bumpy Road To Deploying Driverless Trucks At Scale”). 

Then there is this: the median age of truck drivers in the US is 46 compared with 41 for all workers, according to 2019 Census data. As truck drivers get older and retire, there will be fewer people available to take their place (our birth rate continues its 50+ year decline) and driving a truck isn’t a career many young people are clamoring for these days anyway. 

Yes, reality bites.

In the meantime, as reported by John Gallagher at Freightwaves, “The Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association (AVIA), whose members include autonomous truck tech companies Aurora, Kodiak, and Plus, as well as FedEx, told the U.S. Department of Transportation that making changes to the current regulations to remove hurdles to deploying driverless trucks will ‘provide both regulatory certainty and greater operational flexibility’ for autonomous vehicle (AV) developers.”

The unions may have a lock on keeping automation out of U.S. ocean ports, but I think their efforts will ultimately fail when it comes to trucking. What do you think?

Also, if you have a better analogy than “Requiring drivers in driverless trucks is like requiring seeds in seedless grapes,” then post it in the comments. Let’s see how many illogical ideas we can generate!

The Road to 1,000 Indago Members

This past March marked 6 years since we launched Indago. Our goal is to reach 1,000 members by the end of 2025 -- and to break the $30,000 mark in charity donations since we launched.

Why join Indago? Here’s how a couple of our members answered that question:

“Joining Indago has been great. On a monthly basis I complete an easy, 5 minute survey about important topics in Supply Chain (I often complete the survey on my smartphone). I find value in completing the survey; it gives me a reason to spend a moment defining my perspective on strategic topics. In return, I am able to see the results of the survey and the perspectives of my peers. On a few occasions, I’ve reconsidered my position based on what the community suggests, and other times, I’m happy to see the validation of my views (especially on topics that have been overhyped in the trade journals). Because the surveys are anonymous, it’s a risk free way to engage the Supply Chain community and get quick, honest feedback." -- VP of Operations, Food & Beverage Company

“I decided to join Indago for two reasons. One is to be part of a group that provides real time feedback from companies on topics in the supply chain world. The second reason is that Indago supports charities that make the world a better place. It’s a great one - two combination!” -- Director of Freight & Warehousing, $1B+ Food & Beverage Company

So, what are you waiting for? Find out what you’ve been missing and join Indago today!

If you're a supply chain or logistics practitioner from a MANUFACTURING, RETAIL, or DISTRIBUTION company and you’re interested in learning from your peers, I encourage you to learn more about Indago and join our research community. It is confidential, there is no cost to join and the time commitment is minimal (2-4 minutes per week) — plus your participation will help support charitable causes like Breakthrough T1D, American Logistics Aid Network, American Cancer Society, Feeding America, and Make-A-Wish.