As we have discussed in our ongoing series, many of you have seen some of the recent headlines proclaiming the coming end of trucking as we know it – the impending doom of massive job loss in the trucking industry. Articles are being written, and sometimes celebrated, focusing on the premise that truckers are replaceable, and because of autonomous trucks, everyone will be a lot safer, happier, and generally better off.
We’re taking the time to talk about each type of trucking, and how difficult it will be to replace the drivers that make the difference across the industry.
Flatbed trucking is one of the most physically difficult jobs in trucking. On any given day, you’ll find a flatbed driver climbing up and down on trailers, manhandling tarps, and off-roading the tractor-trailer to find their loads.
Flatbedders are responsible for:
- Ensuring the load is stable and properly tied down
- Tarping most loads, commonly using tarps in excess of fifty feet long and a hundred pounds
- Stopping regularly to check and double check that all straps, tarps, and tie-downs are still just as firmly in place as they were the first time they were tightened
- Coordinating with other heavy equipment operators to get loaded or unloaded
- Driving the trucks not merely off the highway, but frequently off-road, to construction sites, quarries, farm fields, and other atypical locations
All of this is IN ADDITION to the typical responsibilities of drivers, all of whom are responsible for keeping their loads secured and arriving safely at their destination.
Don’t get me wrong… autonomous trucks are surely coming, in one form or another. But it’ll be one helluva fancy, high-tech truck that’ll be able to do all the things flatbed drivers do to keep the load SAFE AND SECURE while getting it to its destination!
Amen brother!
I’m a heavy-haul driver. There is no way in hell a computer or robot can do my job. They need to focus on making jackass 4wheelers safer and leave us professionals alone.
Yeah, right? People think all we do is keep it between the lines and have no clue of all that’s involved!
While I agree with the comments above, I would be hesitant to write off the progression towards autonomous trucks in any and all sectors, including flatbed. I love truck-driving and in particular the trucks themselves, and will bet that this is the case for most of us, but this love tends to blind us towards what seems to be the inevitable.
Two reasons for my viewpoint: truckers are not unionized and hence have no input with regard to the industry, and companies are motivated by economic incentives (money walks…). The interesting part of this move is not total autonomy in transport, but the intermediate time: how will truck drivers work together with artificial intelligence.
Conservative estimates claim 5-10 years before the trucking industry really starts replacing truck drivers. I hope this is not true, but we better be ready just in case it is.