Studies considering the impacts of automated trucks on the workforce find that automation may first effect long-haul trucking or over-the-road drivers [1]. These drivers travel throughout a region or the continental United States for work, typically on a limited set of federal interstates and highways. Wang et al. [2] suggest assessing the potential for job displacement by looking at growth in alternative positions with similar requirements for skills, knowledge, and abilities in a truck operator’s home state. According to their study, only 10 states have sufficient alternative employment opportunities to absorb a greater than 15% displacement in truck driving jobs, indicating a need for worker retraining if trucking displacements.

A survey of trucking logistics managers, supervisors, and drivers found that drivers were the most likely to believe that automated trucks would reduce the size of the U.S. truck driving workforce (62%), followed by supervisors (50%), and managers (25%) [3]. Interviewees in this study noted that they thought the introduction of additional technologies into trucking, such as automation, would lead to a shift towards younger drivers rather than older drivers.