TESLA SEMI & DRIVER SIMULATORS: WORTH THE MONEY? | Brake Check

Charles (0:00)

Welcome back to The Loading Zone.

SPEAKER_2 (0:02)

Today's deep thought, trucks have big wheels.

Charles (0:23)

Electric Trucks, Simulators, AI, and everything. Apparently, Trucking's future comes with a charging cable, a monthly subscription, and a PowerPoint promising you'll be rich by slide four. Sounds fantastic, until you're the one writing the damn check for it all. Because a $6 diesel cost, or more happening out in the nation right now, rising cost, rising insurance, nobody's got the money to burn on another expensive science project. So today, we're doing something that the sales brochures rarely do. We're checking the math. We're checking the receipts. Does it work? Does it pay for itself? Does it make trucking safer? Or did somebody just put a shiny new price tag on yesterday's BS?

That's what we're going to talk about today after the Daily Pile Up with Matt McClelland of Covenant Logistics, who puts the loaded semi truck from Tesla through California's Grapevine to see whether the technology could handle the real world application. Then Enrique Allen Mar of SimExperts, a guy who's crashed more trucks than most people are driven and somehow never filed an insurance claim. One tests the machines, the other trains the humans. And both better prove their worth because this is their brake check moment and we're about to go full stop. But first a message from our sponsors over at Apex Capital.

SPEAKER_3 (1:48)

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Charles (2:14)

And while we're at it, let's talk a little bit about saving new money, running smarter and staying ahead of the nonsense that hits trucking each and every day. Hit that like, subscribe, and follow FreightWaves for your top FreightCast trucking news and conversations that matter to your business right here. And if you want to get off the screen and into the room where the real FreightWaves are made, F3 is coming up right here in Chattanooga. Use promo code BRAKECHECK and save 50% off today's current pricing. Use BRAKECHECK and we will see you right here in Chattanooga. But now it's time for our daily pileup.

All right, and up first on today's daily pileup, well we're going to talk a little bit about what's going on out there. Like this clip that we're going to have right here from our guide, the Disrespective.

SPEAKER_4 (3:11)

Sitting alongside on the shoulder broke down, and barely anybody could move over. No cars around them whatsoever, but they can't move over one lane. Here's another one.

You've never been broke down alongside the interstate.

You would never understand what it does when they come by that close in that lane. Not to mention when the mechanic gets here. He's got to work right alongside people that are doing it 70, 80 miles an hour while they refuse to get over. I thought that needs to change.

Charles (4:01)

I mean, there's a law for this. You have to slow down or move over.

One or the other. Why is it that hard?

So many people get injured each and every year, whether it's law enforcement, emergency responders, tow truck technicians, or yes, the American truck driver. Slow down or move over. Let this be your sign to be paying attention. We have to share the roads. But you know what is also happening out there? We got boots on the ground. My guy Larry Catherine is reporting in live on an autonomous trailer situation happening. Check this out.

Larry Catherine (4:35)

A lot of people talk about these self-driving, okay? Forget the self-driving trucks for right now. Think about these self-driving trailers, huh? Think about the self-driving trailers. You ain't got to have the maintenance of a truck. All you got to do is hook this joker up, charge and load it up, and that joker is headed down the highway? This ain't even a driverless truck. This is just a driverless trailer. This is just a trailer. They're putting on the, man, what? I'm telling you right now, if you're not that invested in trucking, your best bet is to go be a programmer, a engineer, learn how to work on this stuff. Okay, cause you gotta work on it. Learn how to program this stuff. That's what you need to be doing. Because I'm telling you right now, I don't know when it's gonna be, but it's gonna be, huh? I don't know when it's gonna be, but it's gonna be, sure. Think about if I had me, think about if I just had me some trailers right now. I said, you know what? I don't even need no drivers no more. Forget the headache of a driver. I don't even need no driver no more. Just give me, give me the trailer.