Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers

86% (Imminent Risk)

Imminent Risk (81-100%): Occupations in this level have an extremely high likelihood of being automated in the near future. These jobs consist primarily of repetitive, predictable tasks with little need for human judgment.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

User poll

Sentiment

The following graph is included wherever there is a substantial amount of votes to render meaningful data. These visual representations display user poll results over time, providing a significant indication of sentiment trends.

Wages

Moderately paid relative to other professions

In 2023, the median annual wage for 'Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers' was $54,320, or $26 per hour

'Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers' were paid 13.0% higher than the national median wage, which stood at $48,060

Wages over time

Comments

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Al 2 months ago

I will never feel comfortable driving around an autonomous 18 wheeler, think about the road & severe weather conditions, someone hijacking into the technology, or stealing cargo from the trailers, specialized trucking like flatbed, hazmat tanker, oversized, touch frieght, and who's going to do the pre trip & connect the air/electrical lines? And god forbid accidentally killing someone who will catch the manslaughter charge?

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Stan (No chance) 8 months ago

The roads are not well maintained and smooth causing weather to be a high judgment factor.

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Kevin (Low) 8 months ago

AI cannot adapt to road conditions, it also can not chain tires, drop trailers or easily re route in a big truck. It's very unlikely that big class A trucks will be replaced by an AI, unless trillions are spent on inferstucre. Also thefts would be much more of a problem along with safety features.

Imagine thieves braking in front of a big truck and it stops as to not hit them and they look the trailer or disconnect it.

There's too much liability, along with small tasks and decisions that need to be made on the fly.

It's much more likely doctors and lawyers will be replaced first because AI could diagnose you and do surgical procedures. 1 doctor or lawyer could open up a practice and manage hundreds of clients with a powerful enough AI before class A trucks could be safely implemented and insured.

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Evan (Uncertain) 1 year ago

because i think that we could make self driving trucks, but the driver itself has to problem solve like first off what if the truck is about to run over a car but the sencors are broken in that area. but if we had a human driver then they could problem solve and quick swerve away

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Lars 1 year ago

I don't think automation will be possible within 50 years for this type of work. Just think of the train that in the maximum line could also be automated immediately, but if you always try to have a train driver on board. Artificial intelligence is still too immature to be used in such a dangerous job. In conclusion, the truck driver is a job that is still too specialized and varied, to be robotic.

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Shayne Thomas (Low) 1 year ago

I just don't believe autonomous trucking could become a thing unless people were to give up their ability to drive themselves. If no one drove and it was just robots then it is a very plausible scenario. It would probably be safer and more efficient than if humans were driving the same trucks. The counter to that, I would say, is that it would only be that way if only robots were driving. This is because of human error, being impatient, not being a good driver, and driving under the influence. There are many factors to include when putting human drivers into the equation that cannot be calculated by a machine. Personally, I don't want to give up my own freedom to drive so companies could be slightly more efficient and I'm sure there are a lot of others who would feel similar.

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Josh (Uncertain) 1 year ago

Seems no one has visited this section in awhile. I think it's safe to say all previous comments and this assessment itself was based off over-hyped technology that has proven to be much more complicated than initially thought. The eventual automation of commercial drivers is probably high but still decades away with the current challenges.

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Anonymous (Uncertain) 2 years ago

It's going to be automated; it's not debatable. The question is, "How soon will it happen?" My guess is that it's going to take another 20 to 50 years before the technology is sophisticated enough to displace human beings. At that point, it'd no longer be an attractive or plausible occupation for most.

If you're in your 30s, you can likely still make an income from trucking, and you may even be able to ride it out until retirement. However, if you're the next generation of kids, probably not.

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Jeremy 2 years ago

It's truly the case that Tesla is leading with the new Cyber Trucks and future models. How much profit can be made by just selling 1,000 trucks? There is a huge market.

All they need is a new law with dedicated trucker lanes, similar to bike or bus lanes.

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2nd rule of the pirate code: Curfew by 10 PM 1 year ago

"All they need is a new law with dedicated trucker lanes, similar to bike or bus lanes."
So, you want a dedicated lane for a Heavy vehicle to drive through, which the heavy vehicle in question is dedicated solely to transporting materials and goods.

You are describing a Train.
But specifically a train that moves on streets and highways. If there are two things the U.S loves (assuming we are talking specifically about the U.S), it's Guns and Cars. I doubt people would be too happy letting a big portion of driveable area get used up nor would they be happy to have it drive next to them, because the fear of it malfunctioning would be heightened. That's also not to mention how primitive the ai is for self driving, and the potential ethical concerns.

I do think that Ai will replace delivery jobs like this, but It'll most likely be in a form that would have the least potential to cause damage, like a drone or a train out in the middle of nowhere.

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Mr. Nobody (Low) 2 years ago

Certain cities have a very tight shipping/receiving docks, not to mention the streets.. who’s going to chain up the tires in the snow?

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Nathan (Moderate) 2 years ago

Even though working on trucks will become safer, it will still be unsafe and there is a likelihood of getting hurt.

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Mark (Low) 3 years ago

Parts of the trucking industry are likely to be automated in the next 20 years. For instance, long-distance convoys. But truckers do more than just drive. They also do maintenance, load balancing, inspections, and sometimes loading and unloading at destinations.

As such, for short-haul routes, the "driving" part is a relatively minor part of the job. Even if it's automated, the trucker is still needed. For long-haul routes, robotic convoys will indeed eliminate the need for some drivers. But each convoy will still need a shepherd for the other duties that can't be substantially eliminated in that period of time.

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Matt (Highly likely) 3 years ago

As a truck driver, I have mixed views on automated driving. I don't see any evidence that a truck could be 100% autonomous in my lifetime. There is so much more to trucking than just driving, a lot more.

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Ry 3 years ago

Lol, if you've ever been a local city truck driver, this will never happen. Maybe interstate driving could be automated for the mega-corporations, but local driving in a major city? Probably never. The fact that this has such a high likelihood of getting votes proves that you shouldn't blindly believe anyone on the internet who tells you anything. Most of the votes are clearly not from anyone in the industry.

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RB Hopson (Low) 3 years ago

Although the tech will be here soon, I think the infrastructure required to fully automate this sector will take much longer to implement.

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Nico Cione (Highly likely) 3 years ago

I think that there will be driverless electric-powered trucks in the future.

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Mr. T (Highly likely) 3 years ago

Especially long haul transport will be vulnerable because these routes are less complex to automize. Short-haul transport will stay relevant a little longer. Although there will be massive competition, due to the low entry barriers of starting at this job.

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Steve (Highly likely) 3 years ago

Based on the current processes, and the vast evolution of self driving cars

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Andrea (No chance) 3 years ago

A robot cannot replace the instincts of human driving knowledge, especially during extreme weather conditions. I haven’t even begun to discuss pre trip inspections or backing and parking a trailer in a dock. This takes many years to master. This is not like driving a car. Robots will NEVER replace a human driver.

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Ryan R 3 years ago

Likely sooner. There are already semi trucks with AI learn cameras installed on them going around. Won't be shocked if it's sooner than a decade.

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