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Aren't autonomous cars required to have a human "driver" while on the road? I can definitely see truckers lobbying to have some sort of law of that nature - they sit behind the wheel "in case something goes wrong", but would be allowed to drive longer hours with fewer mandated breaks. Sounds like a win for the profession in general... setting aside that longer drive times mean that at least some will be out of work.

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Even if the truck's "supervisor" is paid as much as drivers are today, trucking companies are very hungry to get more miles driven in fewer days. These will let trucks drive for more than 11 hours, thus I believe we'll see these as soon as they're approved.

They do now. Doesn't necessarily mean that in 5 years they still will.

Do unions still hold significant political sway these days? I can definitely see truckers pulling their weight to keep those laws on the books for commercial freight at least long enough to stay employed 'til retirement.

Assuming the laws are removed at some point, there would still be a huge transition between companies needing truck drivers and not needing truck drivers.

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