An estimate of 500,000 jobs could be lost across the trucking industry if autonomous trucking is embraced.
This includes long-haul truckers, and maintenance and support staff assisting truckers in their journey.
The “transfer hub” model drafted by the University of Michigan with Carnegie Mellon University seeks to introduce automated trucks for the long-haul journey.
While truck drivers will move the goods from their origination points to truck ports located about 150 miles, automated trucks will be used to carry out the long-haul journey from the titular transfer hubs.
The driver in turn takes over when the automated truck arrives at a transfer hub close to its destination.
This format will therefore ensure that humans handle the “more complex suburban-urban segments at both the starting and end points of the journey” while automated trucks handle simple highway driving.
While people who would be employed at the various transfer hubs will help eliminate the vacant space created by maintenance and support staff, it will however not be enough.