OOIDA’s Spencer: America isn’t ready for autonomous trucking

March 21, 2019

Greg Grisolano

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Some advocates of technology may claim a driverless future is just around the corner, but not OOIDA President Todd Spencer. He says the technology, as well as the infrastructure necessary to achieve a level of safety on par with having an experienced professional driver in control of the vehicle, is still a long way away.

Spencer’s remarks came during a panel on the impact of automated vehicle technologies on the workforce on Wednesday at the U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C.

“I don’t think it’s going to happen tomorrow, and I don’t see how it could realistically happen without every aspect of vehicles – not just trucks, but every other vehicle on the road – and the roadway system itself (being automated),” he said.

The panel was part of a collaborative project between DOT, the Department of Labor, Department of Commerce, and Department of Health and Human Services to study workforce effects and operational health and safety issues for commercial drivers in relation to automation technology.

The first phase of the study, which focuses on the long-haul trucking and transit bus sectors, will result in a report to Congress, expected later this summer. The second phase will be expanded to include a broader set of driving occupations. Last October, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao submitted a request for comments on the impact of automated vehicle technologies and the workforce. OOIDA filed comments challenging the assumption that autonomous vehicles would improve highway safety.

Spencer urged for more transparency from manufacturers and developers of the autonomous technologies, not only in terms of their successes but also the failures and limitations of the technologies.

“The vast majority of driving jobs, I don’t see how they could ever be automated,” he said Wednesday. “And certainly, we’re decades away from those that could be automated actually being able to be done safely, simply because it does require technology, but it’s also going to require massive public investment that people in this town too often don’t seem to want to make.”

The panel discussion, which included opening remarks by Chao, also included Sam Loesche, legislative representative for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Amitai Bin-Nun, vice president of autonomous vehicles and mobility innovation at Securing America’s Future Energy; and Art Guzzetti, vice president of policy for the American Public Transportation Association.