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  • 26 Comments
Joined 11 months ago
Cake day: November 30th, 2023
  • Dieinahole@kbin.socialtoTechnology@lemmy.world•Will self driving trucks hit the roads with nobody on board or will they keep a human supervisor?
    2·
    6 months ago

    The wild part is, the stepvans have wayy more visibility than a modern car. Like you can actually see your bumper and what it might run into. Taking time to learn the ends of your vehicle is important, but when you can’t see shit anyway, what’s the point?

    I understand, crumple zones and shit require bigger a-frames, but I’d rather be surrounded by more competent drivers than crumple zones.

    I recall hearing about some guy who was pushing for graded licenses and roads, and if you didn’t qualify as skilled for that road, you couldn’t drive there. It wasn’t a simple ‘this is harder, this is easier’, either. Tight-in low-speed city roads were a certain classification. Highways were another, twisties were another, and so on.

    I fervently wish that’d taken hold, along with a vehicle classification to match. Mopeds and scooters in the city? Easy! Stepvan in the city? Hard! Modern ‘pickup’ in the city? Fuck no!

  • Dieinahole@kbin.socialtoTechnology@lemmy.world•Will self driving trucks hit the roads with nobody on board or will they keep a human supervisor?
    111·
    6 months ago

    Driving a truck is extremely more difficult than that.

    I’m continually boggled by the fact any jackass can walk into a uhaul and drive out with 30 foot box truck, because those are wildly different to handle than a regular car.

    Massively larger stopping distance, something almost no one leaves in their regular cars, massively wider turning radius, and heavy enough that if you make a mistake or lose control, there’s a whole lot more destructive capability that you clearly are not appreciative of.

    Going down a hill with a loaded box truck requires multiple different braking methods than just pushing the left pedal. You engine brake as much as possible, and use what’s called stab braking, to keep the pads and rotor cool enough so they don’t fail.

    All of this is multiplied when you go from an automatic transmission, straight box truck to an actual semi truck, which weighs another order of magnitude more, has usually has a ten speed manual transmission (and three pedals, not two) and the whole trailer aspect.
    And despite the extra weight, heavy winds can still blow the things over.

    Frankly your cavalier attitude about how easy it is to drive anything is exactly why the roads are so dangerous.

    Because nothing I said really mentions how people driving cars interact with trucks or buses on the road. It’s a constant stream of getting cut off and having to slam on the brakes because the dipshits don’t even know where the edges of their own vehicle are, let alone where mine begins, or the wildly longer stopping distance, or my extremely limited maneuvering capabilities , especially at speed, or the simple fact the larger vehicle will absolutely crush their whole car and everyone in it completely fucking flat.

    Driving is absolutely a skill, and like any other, it will atrophy without use.