Page 17 - Newcom

• EASY OPERATION
• SAVE EXPENSES & time
• eliminates stripped threads • NO MORE MESSY OIL CHANGES
oil changes made easy available at
(online only)
www.ezoildrain.ca
of any similar efforts in Canada. “Hopefully we can more closely har- monize these moving forward.”
Ludwig also sees cost savings with autonomous trucks, and has seen some interest in the idea of an AFC.
“You could travel day and night because of the automation, and once perfected, it would be safer as well,” he said. “We did have discussions with a Senate committee, which seemed very interested and asked some good questions.”
Godsmark agrees with the cost savings of self-driving trucks.
“We estimate that autonomous trucks have the potential, by remov- ing the driver, to reduce operational costs by up to 40% and increase time in use by around 40%, as there would be no need for working time regulations,” he said.
Public and government accep- tance remains to be primary factors in the adoption of autonomous vehicles.
At some point, however, Godsmark said it will be provable that autonomous trucks are safer than those driven by human-beings, and the public will have to decide how much longer its trepidation of the technology will inhibit its use.
“It is therefore possible that
we will see commercial autonomous tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads in 2019- 2021 that are limited to specific highway routes.”
– Paul Godsmark
“It should be stressed that although it is realistic to expect autonomous trucks to eventually be safer than the average human driver, these autonomous trucks will still have crashes, because no technology and deployment will
be perfect,” Godsmark pointed out. “The key question that society may need to address is, ‘How much safer does an autonomous truck need to be in order for it to be acceptable for use in the public realm?’”
The fact that many commercial driving positions would vanish is not lost on Godsmark.
“It seems reasonable to expect that there will be a transition from
being a full-time driver to a part- time driver and chaperone,” he said.
Godsmark added, however, that once the technology is ready and in use, carriers will immediately look to reduce their costs by removing drivers, and truck manufacturers will design vehicles to capture even greater savings.
“Some complex and/or arduous trucking scenarios might always require a chaperone,” he said, “but for the majority of highway trips, it will probably be more cost effec- tive to have unmanned vehicles and to provide human oversight in other ways.” TW
®
The T880
One of the most proven & versatile work trucks ever conceived.
• Up to 76” Sleeper
• Cummins or PACCAR Engines
(405-605 hp)
• 1450 - 2050 Torque
• Eaton manual or auto
transmission
• 12-20,000lb front axle
• Tandem & Tridem rear axles • VIP Interior
• NAV + HD
• Remote diagnostics
Check out our used truck line-up!

• Burnaby • Campbell River • Chilliwack (Parts Only) • Cranbrook •
• Dawson Creek (Parts Only) • Fort St. John • Kamloops • Kelowna • Langley • Nanaimo • • Pentiction • Prince George • Quesnel • Terrace • Vernon • Whitehorse • Williams Lake •
INLAND-GROUP.COM
August 2018 • Truck West 17
Over 160 new and used trucks in stock. We have what you need!