Will they go round in circles?

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A “song that ain’t got no melody” is a pretty good analogy for my personal thoughts on the current plans for autonomous and self-driving commercial vehicles. A “dance that ain’t got no steps,” no matter how much money is hurled at the technology, because the technology requires infrastructure to operate upon, and “I’ma gonna sing it to my friends,” when I say there isn’t a suitable one available to run fleets of autonomous vehicles economically at the present time.

They won’t go ’round in circles, threading giant metal machines through the solid rock caves in Missouri.

I’ve got a dance that ain’t got no steps. I’ma-gonna invest a gabillion dollars in it.I’ve got a dance that ain’t got no steps. I’ma-gonna invest a gabillion dollars in it.

They won’t fly high like a bird up in the sky, trudging up the “heaven” ramp that has no sidewalls into the Las Vegas Convention Center.

And the story with no morals will change drastically the first time a platoon of autonomous trucks plows through a mini-van full of real-live people. Letting the bad guy win every once in a while won’t seem so insignificant anymore.

There you have it, folks, my first contribution to “Quick Hits in Trucking.”

Well, kinda.

Our friend Rich Templeton of Steelhead Factoring is launching a video series (of the same name) on Wednesday, Jan. 17. Templeton is putting together 45-second clips of opinions about industry issues, from industry professionals, who range from owner-operators to company drivers, brokers, dispatchers and factoring service agents. He’s chosen an interesting blend of folks for his first installment of the series, and plans to keep it mixed up with a variety of hot-button issues.

The roll-out topic is autonomous vehicles, and as you can see, I cheated and wrote my opinion, instead of doing a video. George is going to do a video, because he can achieve a 45-second video and stay on topic, while I immediately begin meandering off into stories about my sister’s wooden leg (which, incidentally, aren’t true) and all I’ve done in 45 seconds is confirm that you probably don’t want to let me babysit children under the age of 6.

I’m old enough to know my weaknesses. I also think this particular endeavor is going to be interesting – holding people to a 45-second limit on things they’re passionate about will really force them to consider what’s most pertinent in their opinion, and no one will prattle on about their sister’s imaginary wooden leg.

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Check it out – and feel free to leave comments on the page about topics and people you’d like to hear from regarding those topics. Thanks for inviting us to participate, Rich. Good luck!