l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 Driverless Trucks to Hit Alberta’s Oilsands Region Replacing $200,000/yr
Operators; Big Layoffs Coming
The Alberta oilsands region and the ore mining regions in Australia use some
of the biggest trucks in the world.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-18eWJhY0TsE/VXX8DfKYNEI/AAAAAAAAeIA/rqr5GI_EqdA/s400/Ore%2BTruck.png
Above: Komatsu heavy earthmoving truck at the Tom Price iron ore mine,
operated by Rio Tinto Group, near Perth, Australia.
Drivers of these behemoths cost as much as $200,000 a year. With that
incentive, the push to driverless is on.
Big Layoffs Coming
The Calgary Herald reports on the and the "threat of big layoffs" as Canada
’s Oilsands Pave the Way for Driverless Trucks.
The 400-tonne heavy haulers that rumble along the roads of northern
Alberta’s oilsands sites are referred to in Fort McMurray as “the biggest
trucks in the world,” employing thousands of operators to drive the massive
rigs through the mine pits.
Increasingly, however, the giant trucks are capable of getting around
without a driver. Indeed, self-driving trucks are already in use at many
operations in the province, although they are still operated by drivers
while the companies test whether the systems can work in northern Alberta’s
variable climate.
That is about to change.
Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil company, confirmed this week
it has entered into a five-year agreement with Komatsu Ltd., the Japanese
manufacturer of earthmoving and construction machines, to purchase new heavy
haulers for its mining operations north of Fort McMurray. All the new
trucks will be “autonomous-ready,” meaning they are capable of operating
without a driver, Suncor spokesperson Sneh Seetal said.
For Suncor’s roughly 1,000 heavy-haul truck operators, however, the
prospect of driverless trucks has raised more immediate fears of significant
job losses.
“It’s very concerning to us as to what the future may hold,” said Ken
Smith, president of Unifor Local 707A, which represents 3,300 Suncor
employees. Smith said Suncor has signed agreements to purchase 175
driverless trucks.
“It’s not fantasy,” Suncor’s chief financial officer Alister Cowan
told investors at an RBC Capital Markets conference in New York last week.
He said the company is working to replace its fleet of heavy haulers with
automated trucks “by the end of the decade.”
“That will take 800 people off our site,” Cowan said of the trucks. “
At an average (salary) of $200,000 per person, you can see the savings we’
re going to get from an operations perspective.”
Not Just Suncor
Some companies though will not comment on the prospect.
Imperial Oil Ltd. spokesperson Pius Rolheiser would not say whether his
company was testing the trucks at the company’s Kearl oilsands mine.
Shell Canada Ltd. said it is "exploring" automated hauling.
Canada’s largest drillers, Precision Drilling Corp. and Ensign Energy
Services Ltd., use high-tech drilling rigs capable of moving autonomously
between oil wells throughout North America.
As soon as one company makes the push the others have to follow or their
ongoing operating expenses will be higher.
These truck driving jobs will be the first to go.
Then again, please keep in mind Today's G7 Communique that seeks a 70%
Reduction in carbon emissions by 2050, and 100% by 2100.
Apparently we don't need these stinking jobs anyway. They will be replaced
by free wind-power from all the windbags in D.C. | f******k
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