FEATURE: Autonomous Trucking
The Future for Women in
Autonomous Trucking Experts from Daimler Trucks, Waymo, TuSimple and Gatik reveal autonomous is here and the opportunities for women in trucking are great.
“Autonomous trucks will shorten delivery times, reduce fuel consumption, and make the trip safer for all road users. The ability to deliver cross-country in around 2 days using autonomous trucks also creates opportunities to shift from using carbon intensive air transport. That would be a game changer to reduce carbon emissions.” Shawn Kerrigan, Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder of Plus
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Tech in the form of automatic transmissions, GPS and driver assist helped provide the first footholds for women in trucking. Tech in the form of autonomous vehicles will help inspire and enable the next great wave of women drivers. The movement of women in trucking perfectly coincides with the industry’s move toward autonomous. Although the two trends are independent, they have the potential to become entwined. Several industry experts from some of the world’s leading companies in autonomous technology paint a picture of job opportunity, enhanced safety, and efficiency that is here today—and no longer someday off in the future. Autonomous trucks are a job creator. “I think there’s really a whole bunch of opportunities that’ll open up even as we develop this technology,” says Frances Guo, Product Manager for Trucking at Waymo, an autonomous driving technology company.
The new needs she identifies include people to serve as technicians, support customers, inspect equipment, manage fueling, load and unload cargo, record deliveries and dispatch. Industry observers agree that not only will new roles be created, old vacancies will be filled. The plain fact is that trucking can’t hire fast enough to get the 80,000 drivers the American Trucking Association estimates the industry needs. “I would view this almost more as a complementary mode of transportation. It’s not going to take out the drivers that we need today,” says Joanna Buttler, Director of Daimler Trucks North America’s Autonomous Vehicle Program. “It’s actually a supplement for the driver shortage that we see, and it’s an additional mode that is offered to keep goods moving 24/7. When drivers have to take a break and need to rest, you have a technology available that can keep going, so to speak.”
