While there’s no match for the skilled, experienced human truck drivers of today, several tests of self-driving, autonomous trucks signal that a new era is on our collective tail. Whether its Uber road testing across Arizona, Tesla all-electric trucks spotted in California, Waymo running a pilot in Georgia, or Starsky putting a truly driverless truck to the test in Florida, there’s no doubt the race is on.
With the exception of Starsky’s test, which apparently was done without a driver or pilot in the cab, it’s hard to say exactly when these machines will be truly autonomous. In the meantime, they’ll still be piloted by an experienced driver to ensure it’s all systems go.
This led us to wonder, how does a truck driver keep busy while piloting ‘driverless’ trucks?
Here’s what we came up with:
Like the Top 10 Tips to Stay Busy in Driverless Trucks? You’ll love these! Enjoy…
11. Call driverless truck company’s 800-number hourly to ask ‘What’s this button do?
12. At 65 mph, poke head out window, yell, “Look, Mom, no hands!”
13. Watch sports 24/7, wonder how Joe Buck still has a job
14. At a Houston-area Buc-ee’s, introduce yourself as ‘The Hoff’ and the truck as “KITT”
15. Finally figure out that darn Rubix Cube
16. Sing Carrie Underwood’s Jesus, Take the Wheel at the top of your lungs
17. Watch C-Span, wonder why there are two C-Spans
18. Handwrite all those thank you notes put off since 1993
19. Watch all ‘The Fast and the Furious’ movies (except Tokyo Drift, of course)
20. Read truck’s owner’s manual cover to cover, reflect on its meaning
21. In McDonald’s drive-thru, order BigMac for self, McRib sandwich for truck
22. Watch Smokey & the Bandit, google Jackie Gleason to see if he’s still alive
23. Set birthday reminders in day planner for all extended family, even cousin Chet
24. Pick fight with self. Blame self for starting it. See if truck will ‘come back and finish it’
25. Practice insults for that day when you meet inventors of driverless truck
26. Imagine you’re riding in Optimus Prime and going to pick up Megan Fox
27. Play Euro Truck Simulator in passenger seat, pretend you’re in head-to-head competition
28. Call friends and family, tell them you’ve been abducted but ‘won’t be gone long’
29. Cut into active CB channels and trash talk in best Ross Perot voice
30. Finally reach under the seat for that darn noisy Skittle that keeps rolling around
