Tesla's Truck Driver: A Job That Will Become Historical

The introduction of Tesla's new truck has outlined the future of the transportation industry, a future where jobs like truck driving will belong to history. With the unveiling of the Tesla electric truck named Semi, which can travel 850 kilometers on a single charge, one of the largest leaps in the truck manufacturing industry in the last 100 years has likely occurred. In this truck, the driver's seat is positioned in the center of the cabin, and two touch screens are installed on either side of the steering wheel to control various parts of the vehicle. Cameras installed around the truck ensure that the driver no longer has to worry about blind spots. The Semi, like other Tesla vehicles, will be equipped with numerous safety and assistance systems, including a self-driving system belonging to the fourth generation. Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, stated, "All trucks we will release in the future will have self-driving features as standard; this system is a significant leap in safety." Human error is one of the leading causes of accidents in transportation vehicles like trucks. With the gradual introduction of these trucks over the next 50 years, the job of truck driving will fade away until it is eliminated. Currently, truck driving is a pathway to employment for Black and Spanish-speaking individuals in the U.S., a job that earns about $35,000 annually. However, due to its specific difficulties, this job has faced a decline in demand in recent years. The American Trucking Association has reported that the number of truck drivers is decreasing every year, and in 2017, the U.S. faced a shortage of about 50,000 truck drivers. In the United States, 70% of ground transportation is done by truck. The advent of self-driving trucks will greatly assist the transportation industry in the U.S., yet many jobs in the transportation sector will be lost, although this will not happen in the next 10 years. According to managers at Embark Transportation, the future of trucking will resemble tugboats; truck drivers will wait at highway exits for self-driving trucks to arrive and then transfer cargo to ports or distribution centers. According to a recent report, the startup Embark is testing this system with semi-autonomous vehicles. The company Starsky Robotics states that it has hired several drivers full-time but has set up a call center for them instead of placing them in trucks. This company, which is testing its system on Florida highways, places drivers in an office. These individuals manually guide trucks using a remote steering wheel in challenging routes, such as roads under repair and a few kilometers before the distribution center, while the rest of the highway route is fully automated. In this method, a driver on an eight-hour shift can manage up to 30 trucks. In the near future, the likelihood of eliminating the truck driving job is low because the initial emergence of this technology requires the presence of a driver in the self-driving truck to control the system. However, labor unions are concerned that this could lead to reduced wages for drivers. Ultimately, with the complete automation of trucks and advancements in these systems, there will be no need for a person to control the trucks, and they will be able to operate entirely without a driver. The arrival of Tesla's self-driving trucks has sounded the alarm for truck drivers. After Tesla unveiled its new electric truck, some major companies, as the first customers of this truck, have pre-ordered several units, including Walmart. The provided information indicates that Walmart, as the largest retail chain in the world, has ordered more than 15 Tesla Semis for use in its distribution system in both the U.S. and Russia. If these companies receive satisfactory results from these trucks, the path for the development of self-driving trucks will be smoother.