Trucking news and briefs for Friday, Oct. 27, 2023:
A team of University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers has received a grant to explore how automation will affect the role of American long-haul truckers.
An interdisciplinary group of researchers led by Shannon Roberts, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, has been awarded nearly $2 million over four years by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Future of Work Program.
“We know that when automation is introduced into trucks it changes the role of a trucker,” Roberts said. “The question we are asking is: how do we examine and improve upon the future of work in long-haul trucking not by focusing on technology development, but rather by focusing on the trucker?”
Automation could lead to a number of benefits, including fewer crashes and better efficiency, but that doesn’t mean the human should be removed from the equation entirely, the researchers added.
“Technology is good at handling consistent situations with predictable, rational people,” Roberts noted. “But humans are not predictable, rational beings. Because of this, technology will not be able to react to everything that might happen on the road. It’s impossible. We will need a person in the truck.”
At the same time, automation can’t make workers feel expendable.
