David Heller is the Senior Vice President of Safety & Government Affairs at Truckload Carriers Association. He is responsible for communicating and interpreting all trucking-related regulations to the membership of TCA and its congressional representatives on Capitol Hill.
We discuss the future of collision mitigation technology, how technology can help reduce trucking accidents, and why we’re still years away from having self-driving trucks.
[00:00] Introduction
[01:31] Who is David Heller?
[04:10] The National Roadways Safety Strategy
[06:45] How Technology Can Help Reduce Trucking Accidents
[07:44] Understanding the Preventability of Accidents
[09:54] The Future of Collision Mitigation Technology
[12:44] Foward and Inward-Facing AI Cameras
[14:12] What Percentage of Truck Accidents Are Caused by Cars?
[16:05] What It’s Like to be an Inexperienced Truck Driver
[17:50] The Impact of Insurance on Truck Drivers
[21:25] New Inexperienced Drivers Coming Into the Industry
[26:24] How Far Away Are We From Autonomous Trucks?
[30:12] The Most Exciting Part of Dave’s Job
[31:34] Parting Thoughts
The Long Road to Driver-Less Trucks
How far away are we from having self-driving trucks on our roads? Autonomous trucks are already on highways in states like California and Texas. However, they still have a human “safety driver” behind the wheel. According to Dave, the technology is still not ready to realize its potential. We still need human drivers to take control of the vehicle if anything were to go wrong.
Nonetheless, we are headed toward a time when the global supply chain struggles to deliver goods efficiently and meet human and business demands. With time, self-driving trucks could alleviate bottlenecks and reduce costs. Dave continues to explain that safety is one of the major benefits of self-driving trucks. The technology in these trucks will drastically reduce and even remove human error on our roads.
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