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Comment on The first driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes | CNN Business
twopi@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Why not make automated trains with their own dedicated right of way?
yggstyle@lemmy.world 2 months ago
JeremyHuntQW12@lemmy.world 2 months ago
They already are automated trains on freight only routes like mines.
twopi@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Outside of mines or just in mines? I know that mines are becoming more automated but what about commercial routes.
catloaf@lemm.ee 2 months ago
It’s absurd to suggest running a railway to every warehouse in East Bumfuck, Missouri.
deur@feddit.nl 2 months ago
Oh. But a road is famously cheap.
catloaf@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Compared to building and maintaining a railway, yes, by orders of magnitude.
deranger@sh.itjust.works 2 months 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 2 months 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 2 months ago
The road already exists
al_Kaholic@lemmynsfw.com 2 months ago
Just one more road and the traffic will get better /s
drmoose@lemmy.world 2 months 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 2 months ago
But that would require investment in infrastructure…
drmoose@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Bet that semi trucks are more expensive due to road damage and congestion alone.
mriguy@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Yes, but that’s all subsidized by taxpayers, so it’s more expensive overall but cheaper for YOU.
twopi@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Privatize gains, socialize losses. The Capitalist^TM^ way!
kameecoding@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Efficiency, pollution too (even when electric, because tires and break dust are a thing)
futatorius@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Something like 70% of transport-related particulate emissions (and microplastics) are from tire wear.
futatorius@lemm.ee 2 months 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 2 months 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 2 months ago
What you don’t get is that trucks last less and consume more, therefore it’s better for the robber barons.