Nov 10 2008What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Everything): World's Largest Truck Going Robotic
A group of sickos at Carnegie Mellon have decided to automate the world's largest truck, a 3,550-horsepower, 700-ton behemoth designed to haul 240-ton loads.
Autonomous vehicle technology is pretty much in its infancy," said Tony Stentz, a professor at CMU involved in the project. Stentz expects that over the next five to 10 years, the technology will expand to areas beyond mining, eventually finding its way into consumer cars and trucks.
Autonomous vehicle technology. Really has a ring to it, doesn't it? No, it doesn't -- and anybody that answered yes is a robot sympathizer and officially on the FU-BOTS shit list. Seriously, this is bad news. You know what happens when a 700-ton robot truck gets road rage?
A: Everybody dies.
World's Largest Truck Goes Robotic [discovery]
Thanks to Hayden, who gets a free membership to FU-BOTS for finding this as scary as I do.
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Reader Comments
1. ne1urim24uinv - November 10, 2008 10:42 AM
fristees
2. Thumperchica - November 10, 2008 10:53 AM
Did these people NOT see Trucks?
3. OJ's Mom - November 10, 2008 11:03 AM
Damnit, the word 'Autonomous' is just scary as shit.
4. boredom - November 10, 2008 11:05 AM
I'd love to see one of these miss a turn and roll over a parking lot full of cars. Or jsut run through a building. Hope they have emergency cut off switches
5. Douche McAllister - November 10, 2008 11:13 AM
I'm predicting Maximum Overdrive all over again. Killer coke machines! F*** you little league coach!
6. Abby-Kevin - November 10, 2008 11:16 AM
As a civil engineer (and robot sympathizer) who gets a boner over big trucks that haul dirt, i fully approve. i also want to see it roll through a mall parking lot. yes.
7. Douche McAllister - November 10, 2008 11:16 AM
And Emilio Estevez will be forced to be our savior.
8. Laisy - November 10, 2008 11:21 AM
FAKE!!!!
This is an obvous MS Paint job. You can tell its fake, the shadows are all wrong.
This looks a lot like the scene in Dragonball Z where that guy shouts over 9000.
9. Daisy - November 10, 2008 11:23 AM
FAKE!!!!
This is an obvious photoshop job. You can tell its fake, the shadows are all wrong.
It looks like the truck Max's little brother played with in that scene from the movie Never Back Down.
10. Foobar - November 10, 2008 11:41 AM
Whats the point of automating a mining truck?
Do the drivers make so much money that its cheaper to automate the vehicles, or is it just a cover story for the introduction of killer robots into society?
11. Dr_Freak - November 10, 2008 12:40 PM
the point is that these things go a top speed of about 5mph... It's a boring job, this is a good idea.
@8 i take it all back, it was only funny the first time
@9 get the hint already
12. Beergut - November 10, 2008 3:02 PM
Where's the spare tire?
13. RIMTUCK - November 10, 2008 3:02 PM
Everything in the world will become totally automated. Defeats the purpose of being human.
14. Carl - November 10, 2008 5:39 PM
anyone up for RC demolition derby in a quarry with a 700-ton cat?
15. tc - November 11, 2008 1:39 AM
F***.
Now I have to get my son one for Christmas.
F***.
16. Ken - November 11, 2008 2:50 PM
Anyone else worried that this thing is gonna transform and kill us all?
17. Avsky - November 11, 2008 9:42 PM
We used to have a family friend who was a miner. He said the mining industry seems to "lose" a few of those gigantic trucks each year. How something that huge can go "missing" is beyond me.
18. John Smith - November 12, 2008 10:29 PM
@10
this would be a hackers dream.
of mahyem
MWHAHAHAH
and yes these truck drivers make somewhere around 80-125K us to drive those trucks.
19. Krystal - November 15, 2008 3:08 AM
The Cat 797B actually has a 380 tonne payload...and 3370 hp.
I have to stop listening to my husband tell me about his day...he fixes these for a living. You have no idea how big they really are till you see one in real life. They are insane!! I cant imagine one being automated. Scary!!!
20. Bill Brown - November 19, 2008 1:27 PM
Well, considering what they get for gas milage, I'm less concerned than most of you. Plus, I work at a robot company. Autonomy is over rated. they will still have a babysitter. The good news is that when they work, they will stop user errors. Unless the system is designed by idiots, they will take into consideration what are needed for fail safes.
When was the last time you Car's GPS told you you were in another state or even on another road than you were really on?
I think gewtting them to position themselves for getting filled up will just take a computer too long to make it practical anyway.
21. Paul S Reamer - December 16, 2008 1:18 PM
I give a shit about the robot make the dam thiing or not. The market will decide. Capitalism rocks. What I want to know is how to contact Tony Slentz. I have never met another Slentz. That was my grandfathers name.