If we look to the past for answers to future questions, we can start with Viscelli’s 2016 book, “The Big Rig”. In it, he notes that “what successful [International Brotherhood of Teamsters] leaders had almost always done was try to improve wages by increasing the profitability of the firms they worked for” including by working with companies to incorporate new technologies. Today, industry leaders are developing a more efficient autonomous freight network that produces higher profits for the participants, including professional truck drivers.

The best question for the next four years may not be “when will self-driving technology be ready to deploy” or “when can the regulations catch up with the technology,” but rather, “how can the industry develop a driver-centric business model that can improve the safety on the roadways, the economic return for deployers of the technology, and the quality of life for those using the technology?”
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