Summary Reader Response Draft #4

The article “Drone Truck start-up Einride unveils new driverless vehicles for autonomous freight hauling” written by Hawkins (2020) highlights the features and applications of Autonomous Electric Transport (AET) to transport commodities across the land at cheap cost and with less pollution. Hawkins states that Einride has been launching intriguing and eye-catching prototype vehicles since 2016, including a cab-less pod in 2017 in collaboration with a German logistics business and an electric truck transporting freight for a Swedish food manufacturer. The AET is designed to be “sleek, white, cab-less pods with smooth lines and an otherworldly feel”. It also includes several hardware and software configurations such as an “electric drivetrain”, “proprietary telematics hardware” and “autonomous drive” sensors and camera. Depending on their demands and sector of operation, all-electric components are configurable and may be operated remotely by human operators. The vehicle is available in four different levels and configurations. AET 1 is designed to work within a geofence, while AET 2 is designed to operate outside of a geofence via teleoperation, AET 3 is meant for rural use, and AET 4 is built for highway use. Although all four AETs have identical weights and cargo capacities, AET 3 and 4 have much higher maximum speeds than AET 1 and 2.

Therefore, the Autonomous electrical truck (AET) is the future of cargo transportation with the ability to protect the safety of drivers, lower costs, as well as lower air pollution.

To start with why AET is the future of cargo transportation, it brings great benefits to driver safety. Every year, many trucks are involved in accidents that result in injury and death. This is supported by Filiz (2020), which mentioned that “94%” of the severe traffic accidents happened because of “human errors”. In comparison, using driverless pods would eliminate human’s involvement in trucks, thereby protecting them from life-threatening incidents. This is because AET would not require breaks unlike human drivers, and related issues such as drowsy driving accidents would be reduced (Williams, 2017). Hence, the safety of drivers will be protected with the usage of AET.

Additionally, the use of AET lower costs greatly since petrol and electricity are charged at a different rate. To determine if diesel or electricity is more efficient in powering the vehicle, a group of researchers tested the amount of electrical energy needed to run at the same capacity as a diesel-powered truck and the cost per charging unit. According to Phadke et al. (2019), an electric truck is able to save up to $251 000 in fuel costs as diesel prices are $3.16/gal while charging costs only $0.06/kWh. Net savings of $61 000, which is 18% of the lifetime diesel fuel cost can also be accumulated if the truck’s lifetime battery price is $170/kWh, or up to $148 000, which translates to 44% of lifetime diesel fuel costs when the battery is charged at $100/kWh. Thus, the price of AET is more favourable and an attractive factor influencing the decision for purchasing AET

Furthermore, the usage of AET reduces pollution emitted by vehicles. It is known that climate change is caused by mankind and vehicle is a huge percentage of the emission of greenhouse gases. According to Van Bree et al. (2010), “28% of greenhouse gases and 71% of fossil fuel” are due to the transportation industry. Hence, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is best to start by deviating energy use from diesel fuel to electricity. Using electric cars and trucks eliminates pollution such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and hydrogen that is produced when running cars or trucks on gas or petrol. Fuel-based pollutants can ultimately trigger health diseases and sickness in people breathing in them (Pollet et al, 2012).

Despite it being a smart idea to have an AET, self-driving electrical vehicles generally have a higher accident rate as compared to human-driven cars. This is because self-driving cars have nowhere near-human intelligence. Hence, they do not have the ability to handle unforeseen occurrences. According to Brooks (2017), self-driving vehicles are applicable only when there are no unforeseen circumstances they have to handle. In addition, having autonomous vehicle driving causes an increase in unemployment due to having trouble finding driving-related jobs due to Artificial Intelligence taking over their role as a driver. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, (2019), it is stated that at least 2.0 million people have jobs as “tractor-trailer truck drivers”. Hence, the introduction of AET would leave these 2.0 million people jobless.

In conclusion, having AET for freight hauling is safe for drivers and a supportive way to reduce the cost of transportation. Moreover, it helps to protect mother earth by reducing greenhouse gas emissions tremendously. Hence, incorporating AET for freight hauling is essential for the future of cargo transportation.

 

 

 

References

Filiz, C. (2020). Can Autonomous Vehicles Prevent Traffic Accidents? IntechOpen. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93020

Hawkins, A. J. (2020, October 8). Drone truck startup Einride unveils new driverless vehicles for autonomous freight hauling. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/8/21506125/einride-self-driving-truck-pod-aet-reveal

Hayes, A. (2021, August 31). The Unintended Consequences of Self-Driving Cars. Investopedia.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/090215/unintended-consequences-selfdriving-cars.asp

Law, C. (2021, May 5). The Dangers of Driverless Cars. The National Law Review. https://www.natlawreview.com/article/dangers-driverless-cars 

Madrigal, A. C. (2018, December 20). 7 Arguments Against the Autonomous-Vehicle Utopia. The Atlantic.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/12/7-arguments-against-the-autonomous-vehicle-utopia/578638/

Phadke, A., McCall, M., & Rajagopal, D. (2019, December 9). Reforming electricity rates to enable economically competitive electric trucking - IOPscience. IOPSCRIENCE. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab560d

Williams, A. (2017, November 20). Autonomous cars could end drowsy driving, but don’t hold your breath. VentureBeat.
https://venturebeat.com/2017/11/19/autonomous-cars-could-end-drowsy-driving-but-dont-hold-your-breath/

Zhao, J., Xi, X., Na, Q., Wang, S., Kadry, S. N., & Kumar, P. M. (2021). The technological innovation of hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles for environment carbon pollution control. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 86, 106506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2020.106506