(I certainly did not expect that the trucking industry in 2025 would be much more disrupted by anti-immigrant politics than by self-driving technology.
I think these may be two separate effects of a shared cause. The demographics of the trucking industry shifted rapidly in the past few years towards immigrants, which provided downward pressure on wages (due to a sharp increase in supply). This, in turn, meant that automation became a much less pressing concern for trucking companies, especially considering that negotiating the regulatory landscape concerning self-driving vehicles is notoriously difficult.
They’re operating on public roads within Texas; e.g. according to this press release.
Company surpasses 100,000 driverless miles on public roads and validates second commercial lane for driverless operations, widening its lead in autonomous trucking
lilkim isn’t speculating about the cause of anti-immigrant politics; he’s saying that there’s less desire to automate truck, driving, because truck-driver wages have decreased in recent years (because lots of people have recently decided to go into truck driving, apparently).
Sure, but it’s not the politics that are making long-haul trucking use less self-driving than taxis. It’s that the technical work is somewhat harder and the customer cares less about employee quality. It’s a temporary phase anyway.
I think these may be two separate effects of a shared cause. The demographics of the trucking industry shifted rapidly in the past few years towards immigrants, which provided downward pressure on wages (due to a sharp increase in supply). This, in turn, meant that automation became a much less pressing concern for trucking companies, especially considering that negotiating the regulatory landscape concerning self-driving vehicles is notoriously difficult.
Populism is too strong for job categories to be wiped out in the U.S. without consumer adoption first. I’d check how it’s going in other countries.
To be clear, self-driving trucks are right now being tested in Texas by these folks. They claim to have paying customers already.
But that’s a long way from taking all the trucker jobs away.
These are private roads right?
They’re operating on public roads within Texas; e.g. according to this press release.
Nah, anti-immigrant politics isn’t about wage economics any more than anti-AI politics is about datacenters using up water.
lilkim isn’t speculating about the cause of anti-immigrant politics; he’s saying that there’s less desire to automate truck, driving, because truck-driver wages have decreased in recent years (because lots of people have recently decided to go into truck driving, apparently).
Sure, but it’s not the politics that are making long-haul trucking use less self-driving than taxis. It’s that the technical work is somewhat harder and the customer cares less about employee quality. It’s a temporary phase anyway.