>>1071914Yeah, that's also true. For most drivers though, unless the company complains or has a policy for it, time is more important. The fuel cost gets rolled into the fee charged to the customer based on previous runs and expectations. The late fees on the other hand can't be avoided except by not being late. For reference: I averaged 30-40 L/100km depending on the truck and load and nobody ever said a thing. Climbing mountains of course kills fuel economy - 100-130 L/100km, but descending balances it out somewhat as the fuel flow is shut off.
>>1071916You're missing the point. There are no self-driving vehicles that can handle anything beyond clean, dry well-marked pavement. Within cities where turning right requires 3 lanes? Unlikely. For freeways in summer and good weather, sure they can do it. The problem is that good conditions like that don't exist enough to remove drivers entirely except on dedicated shorter routes where the weather can be accurately predicted for the journey. Then there's all of the non-driving tasks that an automated truck simply lacks the capability of performing. Daily inspections, road-side repairs, paperwork, inspecting the cargo, making sure weights are legal, and fixing it if not, etc. And good luck convincing any shippers to pay for infrastructure upgrades at their facilities. Many have packed gravel and dirt lots.
The vast majority of trucks are used in ways that do not fall within the niche that a self-driving truck can fill. At present, and for the foreseeable future, they are only useful when a company needs to move product between it's own warehouses with it's own trucks. As soon as a third party is added, someone needs to be there for legal reasons. Today, the driver is responsible for ensuring the load is secure and legal. With an automated truck, the carrier is responsible as there's no driver to take the blame. Shippers don't want that responsibility either. This is especially true for flatbeds.
