Photo: Einride
The possibility – and likely near future – of fully autonomous vehicles has gotten many worried or downright panicking about removing the human operator. If the machines take over, what happens with the man or woman who used to operate it before?
In the case of AI-powered trucks, the issues are even more complicated. Economic implications, still unknown at this point, weigh heaviest in the balance because, if the truck drives itself, that must mean the trucker is out of a job. According to a recent poll by Einride and One Poll, the reality is that many would welcome AI. If anything, AI would make trucking a more appealing career choice than ever before.
Einride has a dog in the race, truth be told. The Swedish tech company has been working on a driverless, AI-powered, all-electric freight truck for a couple of years now, registering impressive progress. The Pod from Einride is driverless, to be sure, but it still uses a human operator for remote oversight and operation in certain situations. Think of it like playing a video game, but while hauling goods across Europe by controlling an entire fleet of Pods.
To start off, half of the responders said that a career as a truck driver didn’t fit their interests. Specifically, 44 percent of those queried said they wouldn’t even try it, given the long work hours, the difficult schedules, the salary, and the perception that truckers aren’t educated people.
With AI in the picture, though, they’d be willing to give it a try. That is to say, they’d consider being a truck “driver” if they could do it remotely and autonomously (56.2 percent) and would even commit to four years of attending a university in order to qualify for the job (54.2 percent). As long as there is the willingness to re-skill, AI's introduction won’t necessarily mean jobs lost.
The Einride Pod and, by extension, any other autonomous freight truck, reduces carbon emissions by as much as 90 percent. This fact wasn’t lost on responders, with nearly 52 percent saying they would reconsider a trucking career because of it. Gen Z-ers are more likely to associate with companies whose values they align to, but Millennials are not far behind.
“The road freight industry is responsible for 7% of all global emissions and is expected to increase that figure by an additional 15% if nothing changes,” Robert Falck, CEO of Einride, says in a statement. “AI has the ability to change the freight industry from the ground up because. The future is ours to create.”
Based on this study, the future is also bright for autonomous trucks.
Einride has a dog in the race, truth be told. The Swedish tech company has been working on a driverless, AI-powered, all-electric freight truck for a couple of years now, registering impressive progress. The Pod from Einride is driverless, to be sure, but it still uses a human operator for remote oversight and operation in certain situations. Think of it like playing a video game, but while hauling goods across Europe by controlling an entire fleet of Pods.
To start off, half of the responders said that a career as a truck driver didn’t fit their interests. Specifically, 44 percent of those queried said they wouldn’t even try it, given the long work hours, the difficult schedules, the salary, and the perception that truckers aren’t educated people.
With AI in the picture, though, they’d be willing to give it a try. That is to say, they’d consider being a truck “driver” if they could do it remotely and autonomously (56.2 percent) and would even commit to four years of attending a university in order to qualify for the job (54.2 percent). As long as there is the willingness to re-skill, AI's introduction won’t necessarily mean jobs lost.
The Einride Pod and, by extension, any other autonomous freight truck, reduces carbon emissions by as much as 90 percent. This fact wasn’t lost on responders, with nearly 52 percent saying they would reconsider a trucking career because of it. Gen Z-ers are more likely to associate with companies whose values they align to, but Millennials are not far behind.
“The road freight industry is responsible for 7% of all global emissions and is expected to increase that figure by an additional 15% if nothing changes,” Robert Falck, CEO of Einride, says in a statement. “AI has the ability to change the freight industry from the ground up because. The future is ours to create.”
Based on this study, the future is also bright for autonomous trucks.
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