World’s First Self-Driving Semi-Truck Arrives In Nevada

It’s always been assumed that robots will take some of our jobs, but until recently nobody knew what that would entail. But now that the automation revolution is in full swing, tech forecasters are predicting robots may end up taking a third of our jobs by the year 2025. The one field where this process is happening the fastest, is in the driving industry. Largely due to the self-driving car, the shipping and transportation industry is about to start hemorrhaging workers.

It appears that this change is going to start with truckers, since self-driving technology can handle freeways better than city streets. Daimler, the world’s largest truck manufacturer, has just created the first self-driving semi, which was unveiled Tuesday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Their system will connect to other autonomous vehicles to avoid heavy traffic, and a radar unit situated on the front bumper monitors objects up to 250 meters away. The vehicle was first tested in Germany, and has since been certified to operate on Nevada’s public roadways.

For now, the company plans on keeping humans in the driver seat, and claims that the driver will remain “the boss of the vehicle.” But it’s safe to assume that as the technology improves, human input may be eliminated altogether. Truck driving is one of the last remaining middle class jobs that is readily hiring, and employs 3.5 million Americans.