Waymo self-driving trucks are hauling gear for Google data centers

[workinclasszero]

Waymo self-driving trucks are hauling gear for Google data centers
Atlanta is Waymo's hub for real-world tests of its self-driving trucks.
TIMOTHY B. LEE - 3/9/2018, 9:07 AM

Waymo, Google's self-driving car company, is moving beyond driverless taxis. The company announced on Friday that its self-driving trucks have begun hauling real cargo in the Atlanta area. A safety driver in the truck will take over if anything goes wrong.

"Over the past year, we’ve been conducting road tests of Waymo’s self-driving trucks in California and Arizona," Waymo wrote in a blog post. Now the trucks are going to haul loads to Google's data centers in the state of Georgia.

Waymo already announced in January that it was expanding testing of its self-driving taxi service to the Atlanta area.

Waymo's trucks will have plenty of competition. Earlier this week, Uber announced that its driverless trucks would begin hauling freight in Arizona—also with a safety driver in the truck.

Meanwhile, a startup called Starsky Robotics announced an initial test this week of its technology for remotely driven trucks. Another startup called Embark has been hauling real cargo with autonomous trucks (and a safety driver behind the wheel) since last fall.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/03/waymo-moves-beyond-driverless-taxis-with-trucking-program/

[msongs]

1. they are not driverless if they have human safety driver lol. nt

[Blue_Adept]

2. No different than automated factory lines with a human overseer

[Igel]

3. Not quite. Sort of.

More like having an automated screwdriver with an overseer there holding his own screwdriver just in case.

The only improvement you can get out of that is reducing human error.

Of course, you could downgrade the skilled labor by just training somebody to hit the stop button in case of error. So a safety driver could take over if the automated vehicle fails to operate as desired; or he could just have enough skill to push a button and get the vehicle to the said of the road until he can be rescued.

One pays low wages; the other could be done by a high-school drop out with 20 minutes training. Minimum wage is the long-term prospect. After merit pay increases.