{"id":25607,"date":"2019-10-02T20:59:58","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T00:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/?p=25607"},"modified":"2019-10-02T20:59:58","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T00:59:58","slug":"the-autonomous-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/2019\/10\/poetry-in-motion\/the-autonomous-future\/","title":{"rendered":"The Autonomous Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

There sure is a lot of buzz going around about driverless cars and trucks being tested and operating on our public highways. I am certainly not a fan of that idea and have many of the same questions and skepticisms as most people probably have. Are they really safe? If so, are they necessarily safer than vehicles driven by a live human being? Maybe in some cases, but I overwhelmingly doubt it. Of course, they\u2019ll try to sell us on the safety aspects and the efficiency quotient of fully autonomous alternatives to our current way of getting things done, but there are far too many real-world variables to make such a definitive assertion. And consider this \u2013 would the general public be satisfied and comforted by sharing the road with an 80,000-lb. drone? Or would it be better if we, as professional truck drivers, polished up our own driving habits and behaviors, to the point where we are no longer seen as a menacing obstacle in the daily commute, driven by a grungy ogre with a bad attitude? Regaining our image of being the heroes of the highway, or the knights of the road, would essentially secure our position as being the favorable option to share the road with, over that autonomous truck. Just something to consider. In this poem, I just wanted to ponder a few \u201cwhat-ifs\u201d regarding the threat of our way of life being replaced with automation. I thought that I\u2019d encourage some of us to share a few inspiring trucker tales with other people so that maybe they might recognize this trucker thing as something more than just a job \u2013 it\u2019s our livelihood and, for some of us, it\u2019s something we\u2019re very passionate about.<\/p>\n

\"OctPoemPic\"<\/a>AUTONOMOUS<\/strong>
\n By Trevor Hardwick<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh how I love the old trucker tales,
\nThe kind my dad would tell.
\nOf life behind the steering wheel,
\nOn a road he knew so well.<\/p>\n

The challenges of being gone,
\nThe lure of what\u2019s ahead.
\nAnd how he\u2019d never choose to have,
\nAn office job, instead.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d face the wind and driving snow,
\nWith courage I\u2019d admire.
\nAnd take the time to stop and change,
\nA perfect stranger\u2019s tire.<\/p>\n

I drew my inspiration from,
\nThose knights upon the road.
\nThey took responsibility,
\nFor each and every load.<\/p>\n

I might have some tales to tell,
\nAnd stories of my own.
\nBut who will tell these trucker tales,
\nWhen trucks are simply drones?<\/p>\n

Who will honk the air horns,
\nFor the kids who pump their arms?
\nAnd who will haul the produce,
\nTo the markets from the farms?<\/p>\n

And what about the truck stops,
\nAnd the caf\u00e9s down the line?
\nWho will Flo pour coffee for,
\nAnd pinch her on the behind?<\/p>\n

What will truckin\u2019 songs be like,
\nWith no one at the wheel?
\nIt may sound hypothetical,
\nBut the prototypes are real.<\/p>\n

Everything autonomous,
\nReplaces human skill.
\nAnd drives away the heart and soul,
\nOf everything, it will.<\/p>\n

I prefer a diesel truck,
\nWith a person in control.
\nSomeone with a passion,
\nThat\u2019ll make those big wheels roll.<\/p>\n

To keep our way of life alive,
\nLet\u2019s clean our image up.
\nInspire friends with trucker tales,
\nWhile sippin\u2019 on a cup.<\/p>\n

Be the one they can\u2019t replace,
\nWith artificial skills.
\nLet the public recognize,
\nA hero at the wheel.<\/p>\n

A truck without a driver,
\nMeans a driver without a truck.
\nAnd a country without truckers,
\nIs a country, run amuck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There sure is a lot of buzz going around about driverless cars and trucks being tested and operating on our public highways. I am certainly not a fan of that idea and have many of the same questions and skepticisms as most people probably have. Are they really safe? If so, are they necessarily safer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":25608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-25607","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-poetry-in-motion"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25609,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25607\/revisions\/25609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tenfourmagazine.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}