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Comment by jalanco | Hacker News Reader

The likelihood of the Teamster's union allowing (i.e., not obstructing) driverless cargo hauling to succeed in the US would be close to zero.

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I think they would be beaten by the tactic that killed Fleet Street (where newsprinters got rid of all their personnel by moving their business, but leaving outdated personnel such as typesetters behind. See http://www.mediauk.com/article/32718/the-fleet-street-revolu...): secretly buy your driverless trucks, and replace all your drivers overnight. That way, you won't have employees that can strike against the change.

I wouldn't be surprised if the trucking companies are able to offer them a competitive wage for acting as freight minders.

They might even end up with similar pay for less total hours away from home.

What freight would there be to mind that isn't minded already today? The only thing I can think of is the freight on the driverless cars, but I do not see how that would lead to "less total hours away from home"

A trucker is only allowed to drive a certain number of hours a day, mostly because they are supposed to rest. If they aren't driving, they can sleep while the truck is moving.

=> trucks will make more hours a day driving

=> we need need fewer trucks

=> we need fewer drivers minding those fewer trucks

I fail to see what would make truck owners offer 'competitive salaries' given that there will likely be X>1 truck drivers competing for each 'truck minder' job, and that the job requires fewer qualifications (drivers do the minding today, and future minders will not need a drover's license)

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