Walmart has started using driverless trucks in a 7 mile loop from fulfillment center to store to grow their online business. Automation has begun to replace some jobs and will be increasing rapidly.
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I can’t see anything going wrong there. 
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We’ll see, but they’ve been doing it for a while now. They were testing it with a safety driver since Dec 2020 and then took out the driver in August 2021.
Driverless trucks have been around for years and have been testing for a long time. The state has given its approval so any accidents would be like any driver accident, but the estimate for the accident rate of driverless vehicles is less than vehicles with drivers. Driverless vehicles don’t have drunks behind the wheels.
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I’m not talking about accidents. I’m talking about thieves. It would be easy to disable an driverless truck. Just a thought. 
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Huh. I hadn’t thought about that. Wouldn’t they be able to monitor the vehicle like they would a house? And maybe easier because no privacy concerns since the driver’s privacy doesn’t need to be considered. They could have a security camera on it at all times.
Come to think of it, wouldn’t they need a security camera on it to make sure it doesn’t crash?
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I’m quite sure there are cameras all over it. Unfortunately, like CCTV, cameras are only good for giving a record of the crime. People don’t actually watch all them live there are too many.
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I’m sure they use the same tech. as Tesla.
I’m waiting to see what happens when drones start delivering packages to the door. That’s when the anti-theft devices will become crucial.
If they do thousands of trucks at once, the security might be difficult, but I’ve read that the rollout won’t be fast enough to demolish the trucking industry, so maybe it will ramp slowly enough for innovation to catch up.
What tech is Tesla using? From what I’ve read, Tesla is having a harder time with the driverless cars because city driving is more of a challenge than the trucks that do a regular route in a more rural area that has a lot fewer people to avoid. That’s why Walmart is starting in Arkansas.
How much do porch pirates steal?
A survey by finder.com reports porch pirates account for $5.4 billion in thefts over the past year. That amounts to about $157 worth of packages stolen from the average American at their front door or apartment lobby areas.Nov 13, 2020
I’m sorry what were you saying about anti theft devices being needed in the future?
I watch for my deliveries like a hawk.
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Walmart and Silicon Valley start-up Gatik said that, since August, they’ve operated two autonomous box trucks, without a safety driver, on a 7-mile loop daily for 12 hours.
That was one of the key points. I think these trucks can only be used store to store. If they were to deliver to your house you would have to be home. No driver, no unloading, no leaving it there for you. Otherwise, I don’t see how delivery is accomplished.
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Yeah, definitely no trucks to houses.
Amazon drones.
And delivery robots
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Maybe if they go this way, my boxes delivered will still resemble boxes. That would be great. 
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Driverless trucks could easily be used for deliveries. An HGV requires someone with an HGV licence. so, someone there simply to unload only needs minimum wage, not HGV driver pay. Also on jobs like Dustcart rounds, where most of the people on board are loaders. And what about trunk loads between a parcel distribution depot & the hub? Every night, hundreds of trucks take parcels collected during the day to regional hubs & return with parcels for their area. Most local parcel delivery depots have several trucks out 6 nights a week. There are lots of jobs where a driverless truck would work, as the drivers job is simply to take a load from A to B, or do a round etc.
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Having driven for most of the big parcel delivery company at one point or another. It is not the drivers but warehouse staff who do the damage. Parcels marked this way up, left upside down. Parcels marked fragile used as a step. Heavy parcels loaded on top of smaller parcels. I have seen it all.
All an HGV driver on parcel delivery does, is drive. Van drivers are often different. They load the parcels from the local depot onto their van.
Parcels are collected, taken to the local depot & then unloaded, loaded onto a HGV, on what is called a Night Truck. Taken to a regional depot. Unloaded, reloaded onto another HGV & returned to the local delivery depot. And then unloaded & loaded onto a local vehicle.
Any parcel gets handled by many times across it’s 24 hour delivery period. The collecting & delivering vehicle could have the parcel onboard for several hours bumping about with other parcels etc. The night trunk can be several hundred miles & close to 4.5 hours in each direction. So the fact so few get damaged is almost miraculous.
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@Gee3 So in effect what you’re saying basically boils down to. They are improving their system of operation by introducing driverless trucks. However, they haven’t figured out a way to deliver all packages undamaged. I agree completely with how you describe the steps packages go through. I know this because on tracking it lists these many places involved. I am not putting down delivery services or the people that work there. Priorities as always seem to be directed at making more money, while giving less or same quality of service. IMHO
I would not say driverless trucks improve anything but profit margins. But there are certainly many applications for them.
My concern is, what happens when there is an unplanned road closure? Can a driverless truck reverse into a small side road & then detour? I have lost count of the times I have been detoured due to accidents or unplanned emergency road works etc.
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