Convergence HTF: Future Workforce Implications of Autonomous Trucks: Workshop on the Sociotechnical Research Challenges, Benefits, and Opportunities

The landscape of jobs and work is changing rapidly, driven by the development of new technologies. Intelligent, automated machines and services are a growing part of jobs and the workplace. The potential benefits of these technologies include increased productivity, job satisfaction, and new opportunities. But, technology connected to work can also come with risks. The workshop supported by this award will identify research imperatives related to the effects of emerging autonomous trucks on the U.S. economy and, more specifically, how autonomous trucks will affect the current and future trucking workforce. The workshop will promote the convergence of computer science, transportation and civil engineering, autonomy, economics, education, law, psychology, and sociology to define key challenges and research opportunities at the nexus of humans, technology, and work. This convergence workshop will employ deep integration of knowledge, theories, methods, and data from multiple fields to form new and expanded research frameworks. The results will include identification and sharing of new research directions and tools to understand and harness the value of autonomous vehicle technologies on the trucking workforce, while mitigating potential negative consequences. This convergence workshop addresses the future of work at the human-technology frontier. 

Specifically, this workshop seeks to develop a holistic and integrated research agenda for investigating the impact of emerging autonomous vehicle technologies on the trucking workforce from both technical and social dimensions. The transportation system is expected to undergo major changes with the introduction of autonomous vehicles. By 2050, 80% of vehicles will likely be autonomous vehicles. This is expected to result in an estimated 21,700 lives saved and 4.2 million fewer crashes each year as well as reduced traffic congestion, increased fuel efficiency, and increased productivity. As a disruptive yet beneficial technology, autonomous vehicles, ranging from driver assistance to fully automated vehicles, will also have implications for the trucking workforce. The introduction of AVs may also create new job opportunities for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics employees, including the skilled technical workforce, contributing to the development of enabling technology. This workshop will integrate perspectives from different domains to identify the challenges, barriers, research needs, and potential solutions related to autonomous trucks. Although previous efforts have focused on individual components or isolated systems with respect to the deployment of autonomous trucks, the proposed workshop will develop a fully integrated, system-wide approach to address this topic. The workshop attendees will represent a group of experts that will identify the optimum strategies and techniques to address the impacts of autonomous truck deployment on the U.S. economy. One of the primary outcomes will be a report describing research and education opportunities for academia, in concert with public and private sector stakeholders. The proposed workshop and future research agenda will ultimately benefit all road users and consumers in addition to those working in the trucking industry.