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Comment on The first driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes | CNN Business
twopi@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Why not make automated trains with their own dedicated right of way?
yggstyle@lemmy.world 1 month ago
JeremyHuntQW12@lemmy.world 1 month ago
They already are automated trains on freight only routes like mines.
twopi@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Outside of mines or just in mines? I know that mines are becoming more automated but what about commercial routes.
catloaf@lemm.ee 1 month ago
It’s absurd to suggest running a railway to every warehouse in East Bumfuck, Missouri.
deur@feddit.nl 1 month ago
Oh. But a road is famously cheap.
catloaf@lemm.ee 1 month ago
Compared to building and maintaining a railway, yes, by orders of magnitude.
deranger@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Citation needed
A cursory search shows rail in rural areas is $2 million per mile and a highway is $4-10 million per mile.
mriguy@lemmy.world 1 month ago
A road built and maintained by taxpayers is much cheaper (to a shipping company) than building, maintaining, and operating a railway. Making taxpayers responsible for the infrastructure you use is one way to make your business much more profitable.
bizzle@lemmy.world 1 month ago
The road already exists
al_Kaholic@lemmynsfw.com 1 month ago
Just one more road and the traffic will get better /s
drmoose@lemmy.world 1 month ago
No one’s claiming that. Trucks can still handle the last mile just like they do it with container ships.
Im no logistics expert byt ship -> train -> semi sounds like a great infrastructure design especially now as the container is interchangeable between all of these mediums.
Rambomst@lemmy.world 1 month ago
But that would require investment in infrastructure…
drmoose@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Bet that semi trucks are more expensive due to road damage and congestion alone.
mriguy@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Yes, but that’s all subsidized by taxpayers, so it’s more expensive overall but cheaper for YOU.
twopi@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Privatize gains, socialize losses. The Capitalist^TM^ way!
kameecoding@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Efficiency, pollution too (even when electric, because tires and break dust are a thing)
futatorius@lemm.ee 1 month ago
Something like 70% of transport-related particulate emissions (and microplastics) are from tire wear.
futatorius@lemm.ee 1 month ago
I’ve already commented on road damage, but yeah, trucking firms bear no costs for the congestion and other road hazards they bring with them. Society, as is so often the case, sucks up those externalities.
drmoose@lemmy.world 1 month ago
There’s definitely direct economic damage here too beyond just repairs. It’s sniffles business growth because the infrastructure is unreliable.
acockworkorange@mander.xyz 1 month ago
What you don’t get is that trucks last less and consume more, therefore it’s better for the robber barons.