Here's a place where automation and even EV would be _highly_ useful: "yard dogs."
Like I said, there's lots of "drop and hooks" in the industry, where your job is to leave a trailer behind somewhere and pick a new one up at that same place. That hub then needs a truck to go move the trailer from the spot, to the warehouse, then back again.
Trailers are numbered in a serialized fashion. Parking lots could be mapped with insane precision. Loading docks would need minimal upgrades. You could have a mostly automated warehouse freight yard logistics system. You generally have lots of power and only so many moves in a day so EV would be a big winner in any non-wintering lot, for a good reduction in diesel usage.
Okay.. now you can start thinking about tight integration between the trucks electronic communication system sending gps position updates to the warehouse enabling just in time trailer movements on the lot so a trucker might be able to breeze into and out of the lot in 5 minutes with everything waiting and queued up at the front gate for him. Now he doesn't need to navigate a strange lot at 5mph trying to find the right place to drop and the right trailer to grab, a good source of errors.
Now you can get into moving the EV automated yard dog off the lot and into the hands of larger customers like big box construction stores. A truck could be dropped off at a convenient place in the lot and a small mover could go grab it and maneuver it into the local dock. You could tighten up the spacing on those docks and put them in places a full tractor couldn't possibly pull them into. This also prevents the safety issue where the trucker can move the trailer before the business has finished with it, a good source of injuries.
Anyways.. silicon valley is focused completely on the wrong side and scale of the problems. There's so many "little things" where EV and automation could do wonders. Instead, everybody with a touching back story and a high valuation imagines themselves being able to become the next monopolistic transport baron at the cost of everyone else.
Like I said, there's lots of "drop and hooks" in the industry, where your job is to leave a trailer behind somewhere and pick a new one up at that same place. That hub then needs a truck to go move the trailer from the spot, to the warehouse, then back again.
Trailers are numbered in a serialized fashion. Parking lots could be mapped with insane precision. Loading docks would need minimal upgrades. You could have a mostly automated warehouse freight yard logistics system. You generally have lots of power and only so many moves in a day so EV would be a big winner in any non-wintering lot, for a good reduction in diesel usage.
Okay.. now you can start thinking about tight integration between the trucks electronic communication system sending gps position updates to the warehouse enabling just in time trailer movements on the lot so a trucker might be able to breeze into and out of the lot in 5 minutes with everything waiting and queued up at the front gate for him. Now he doesn't need to navigate a strange lot at 5mph trying to find the right place to drop and the right trailer to grab, a good source of errors.
Now you can get into moving the EV automated yard dog off the lot and into the hands of larger customers like big box construction stores. A truck could be dropped off at a convenient place in the lot and a small mover could go grab it and maneuver it into the local dock. You could tighten up the spacing on those docks and put them in places a full tractor couldn't possibly pull them into. This also prevents the safety issue where the trucker can move the trailer before the business has finished with it, a good source of injuries.
Anyways.. silicon valley is focused completely on the wrong side and scale of the problems. There's so many "little things" where EV and automation could do wonders. Instead, everybody with a touching back story and a high valuation imagines themselves being able to become the next monopolistic transport baron at the cost of everyone else.
You didn't ask.. but..