[masklinn]

> One can easily foresee a future where a self-driving truck has a driver in it who is only driving 'regulated' hours for a small portion of a trip (say during high traffic, highway entry/exit, etc). The driver could spend the rest of his time sleeping, reading, or coding - he'd basically be a passenger.

That kinda already exists though, with team driving. Two pilots relaying gives ~22h of driving per 24h plus 2x30mn slack (under US regs, though there's still a limit of 70h/8 days followed by 34h rest per driver).

[jonknee]

> That kinda already exists though, with team driving. Two pilots relaying gives ~22h of driving per 24h plus 2x30mn slack (under US regs, though there's still a limit of 70h/8 days followed by 34h rest per driver).

So at minimum labor costs could halve... Sounds like a huge productivity boost.

[masklinn]

> So at minimum labor costs could halve... Sounds like a huge productivity boost.

It's not a change in productivity at all.

Also

> Truckers generally get paid per mile, not per hour.

[jonknee]

One person getting the job of two people done is indeed a [giant] productivity boost. Compensation will surely change along with the industry, but there's not a reason to suspect drivers will be the winners in this.

[wombatpm]

You typically pay a surcharge for a team load, usually because you effectively move your load 1000 miles a day instead of 500. For certain types of loads, team drivers are how you make up for manufacturing delays.