Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (left) speaks with a truck driver Friday at the Iowa 80 Truckstop in Walcott, Iowa. (Facebook photo)Facebook founder and billionaire Mark Zuckerberg last week heard from truckers on electronic logs, autonomous trucks and more as he took time during his tour of the United States to visit the Iowa 80 Truckstop in Walcott, Iowa.
In a Facebook post dated Friday night, Zuckerberg said he spoke with several truckers during his stop, hearing stories about trucking’s “unique lifestyle” and more. When he asked drivers about what has changed in the industry over the years, he said he heard about the switch to ELDs. The tech entrepreneur is estimated to be worth $63.7 billion.
“I asked the truckers what’s changed over the last few decades,” he said in his post. “When the truckers I met started driving, you logged your driving hours on pieces of paper. Now it’s electronic and automatic, which makes it harder to drive more hours than you’re supposed to. Some people said they want to work longer, but they feel like regulations are getting in the way of their freedom and doing what they want to do. It’s tough because those regulations try to keep people on the road safe.”
The 33-year-old Zuckerberg also asked truckers their thoughts on self-driving vehicles and the future of trucking. Drivers told him they were skeptical that self-driving trucks would replace jobs because of the sensors needed to deal with things like weather, and trucks not being able to handle the last mile to deliveries without drivers. Zuckerberg said from research he has seen, he’s “confident we’ll solve these problems. But it’s interesting that people in the industry don’t believe this will happen soon.”
Finally, Zuckerberg said truckers told him their biggest challenges on the road were cars. In light of this, he told car drivers the “next time you’re annoyed by a truck on the road, just know that they probably feel the same way about you.”
His full post can be seen below:
