What Do Autonomous Trucks' Terminal Footprints Look Like?

While real estate brokers are almost always engaged in transport real estate transactions, very few brokers are involved in more than a handful of them over their careers. GlobeSt.com recently chatted with Ted Morandin, managing member of Morprop Advisors LLC, part of the Industrial Transportation Property Network, about what the future holds for terminals and why technology is making it harder for truckers to decide on optimal terminal footprints.

According to Morandin, within the next 20 years or so, according to Oxford researchers, 45% of all occupations around today will be automated. Truck drivers account for about 75% of the operating cost of a rig, and are limited to driving about 400 miles in an eight-hour day. “Given that drivers are the biggest single expense in trucking, all sorts of firms are aiming to replace truck drivers with autonomous trucks. Uber subsidiary Otto has already developed a driver-free truck conversion kit for less than $30,000, about half the annual wage of a truck driver,” he says.

All those gadgets on luxury cars that notify drivers that they are drifting between lanes or following too close are finding their ways in to trucks, he adds, noting that much of that technology was developed for mining, agricultural, port and rail trucking operations, and is now being adapted for OTR trucks

But what kind of terminal footprint will be needed for these rigs is anyone's guess, he says. “Without the driver in the equation, there will likely be a need to domicile fewer truck drivers at fewer truckload terminals.”

He notes that regardless of how long driver-less trucks take to hit the highways, current technology will likely see those trucks on highways first and in urban areas second.

While real estate brokers are almost always engaged in transport real estate transactions, very few brokers are involved in more than a handful of them over their careers. GlobeSt.com recently chatted with Ted Morandin, managing member of Morprop Advisors LLC, part of the Industrial Transportation Property Network, about what the future holds for terminals and why technology is making it harder for truckers to decide on optimal terminal footprints.

According to Morandin, within the next 20 years or so, according to Oxford researchers, 45% of all occupations around today will be automated. Truck drivers account for about 75% of the operating cost of a rig, and are limited to driving about 400 miles in an eight-hour day. “Given that drivers are the biggest single expense in trucking, all sorts of firms are aiming to replace truck drivers with autonomous trucks. Uber subsidiary Otto has already developed a driver-free truck conversion kit for less than $30,000, about half the annual wage of a truck driver,” he says.

All those gadgets on luxury cars that notify drivers that they are drifting between lanes or following too close are finding their ways in to trucks, he adds, noting that much of that technology was developed for mining, agricultural, port and rail trucking operations, and is now being adapted for OTR trucks

But what kind of terminal footprint will be needed for these rigs is anyone's guess, he says. “Without the driver in the equation, there will likely be a need to domicile fewer truck drivers at fewer truckload terminals.”

He notes that regardless of how long driver-less trucks take to hit the highways, current technology will likely see those trucks on highways first and in urban areas second.