Tag: employment

The autonomous car revolution is here

The autonomous car revolution is here

Driverless cars used to be the sort of thing you’d see in reel life, but today they are becoming real in real life. India is a different ball game for driverless cars with jaywalkers, poor pothole-ridden roads and bad road discipline. Steven Spielberg’s "Minority Report" nailed the driverless car technology way back in 2002 with its futuristic Lexus-designed auto-piloted car. In one of the scenes, Tom Cruise decides to "run" from the authorities and sets off an exciting driverless car chase.

Driverless cars used to be the sort of thing you’d see in reel life, but today they are becoming […]

Nearly half of all Erie jobs will be disrupted by automation, tech – GoErie.com

Nearly half of all Erie jobs will be disrupted by automation, tech – GoErie.com

According to a Brookings Institution study, “Some of the most vulnerable jobs are those in office administration, production, transportation and food preparation.” EDINBORO — It was 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday and 11 people were checking out at the same time at the Walmart store in Washington Township.

But only three cashiers were handling the task of scanning the flow of bagged oranges, paper towels, cat food, socks, and other items. At eight other registers, shoppers were scanning their own orders.

That scene, perhaps more than robotized assembly lines, might represent the most recognizable face of workplace automation in Erie County.A recent […]

Robots invade foodie San Francisco, promising low prices, tasty meals and cheap labor

Robots invade foodie San Francisco, promising low prices, tasty meals and cheap labor

San Francisco restaurants like Creator are leaning on automation to create low cost food. This could be an issue for humans as robots take over jobs. USA TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO — The lunchtime line is out the door at Creator, a recent addition to this city’s hip downtown foodie scene.

But the chef here has no Michelin stars, no attitude and no heart. Because the chef is a robot.Steak, tomatoes, onions, buns and condiments get loaded into an ingenious machine, and a freshly ground, gourmet hamburger rolls out. Long known as a hotbed of hand crafted foods, some San Francisco restaurants […]

The Construction Industry Needs a Robot Revolution

The Construction Industry Needs a Robot Revolution

Ed Freeman/Getty Images In debates about the future of work , technology is often portrayed as the villain. One recent study calculated that 38 percent of jobs in the United States were at a “high risk” of being automated during the next decade. In the construction industry, predictions are especially dire: estimates of robot-fueled joblessness range from 24 percent in Britain to 41percent in Germany.

There is no question that automation will change the way people work, but for some sectors of the economy, change is long overdue. Nowhere is this truer than in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC).

For an […]

The Curious Task: The Automation Problem

The Curious Task: The Automation Problem

[Fair warning, this post is a bit long. This is a transcription from a Podcast Episode. If the post is a bit long for your tastes, please consider listening to the podcast episode instead.] Does automation kill jobs?

Since 1900, Manufacturing and Agriculture jobs have diminished a great deal. Using a measurement of total US employment, we can observe there has been damage to employment in these industries. Agriculture went from almost 40% in 1900, to less than 2% by 2010. Manufacturing from 25% in 1900, to just under 10% in 2010.

While automation is not responsible for the total […]

How Automation Will Impact the Future of the Trucking Industry

Autonomous technology continues to be a hot topic in the transportation industry, particularly in the commercial trucking industry. There are undeniable benefits to utilizing autonomous trucks, including increased productivity and potentially fewer devastating truck accidents.

However, the shift towards self-driving trucks is likely to have a significant impact on the labor pool, as many of the higher paying trucking jobs may be replaced by an autonomous vehicle. A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania examined how self-driving trucks will impact the trucking industry, the individuals who drive these trucks, and the safety of the roads and […]

Report: Toledo area most vulnerable to automation in employment

Report: Toledo area most vulnerable to automation in employment

It seems safe to predict tractor-trailers will continue hauling the country’s goods across interstate highways in the near future.

Trucking veteran Ed Nagle, however, goes a step further. Even as autonomous vehicle technology advances and shapes the future economy, he expects a human will occupy big-rig driver’s seats for at least a decade to come.

“I tell people, when you’re ready to send your family up in an airplane without a pilot, then people will start to look at the possibility of an 80,000-pound vehicle going down the road unmanned,” said Mr. Nagle, president and CEO at Nagle Companies of Walbridge. […]

Manufacturing Loses 6,000 Jobs in March, Paced by Motor Vehicles

Manufacturing Loses 6,000 Jobs in March, Paced by Motor Vehicles

U.S. manufacturing lost 6,000 jobs in March, led by job cuts in the motorized vehicles and parts sector.

The motorized vehicle category lost 6,300 jobs last month, according to a breakdown by industry sector issued today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That caused the overall transportation category to decline by 4,500 jobs.

U.S. deliveries of cars and light trucks are softening after four consecutive years with sales of 17 million vehicles or more. Sales of cars have been plunging as consumers move to crossovers and SUVs. That market trend claimed one victim when General Motors Co. idled its Lordstown, […]

Book Look: Reinventing Jobs – A 4-Step Approach for Allying Automation to Work

Book Look: Reinventing Jobs – A 4-Step Approach for Allying Automation to Work

Page40 graphic By William Carmichael

“If you are a leader wrestling with where, when, and how to apply automation in your organization, you’re in good company” begins Reinventing Jobs- A 4-Step Approach for Allying Automation to Work by Ravin Jesuthasan and John W. Boudreau. This innocuous opening establishes what for many is the formidable reality that work, our jobs, our way of life as we know it is constantly being reevaluated. And like it or not, artificial intelligence (AI) is waiting in the wings. But simply asking which jobs or humans, for that matter, will be replaced by automation fails […]

What’s up for Metro Vancouver in year 2050: Regional planners present four scenarios

What's up for Metro Vancouver in year 2050: Regional planners present four scenarios

No one really knows what the future holds.

But that doesn’t mean that people can’t think about what lies ahead with the things that are known.

This is what planners with Metro Vancouver and TransLink did in an exercise to imagine what the region may look like in 2050.The result is four different scenarios, which they hope will guide decision makers respond to challenges and opportunities.The process identified technology and automation, and the economy and trade, as two factors exerting the biggest and most variable impacts.“This exercise is not about choosing a preferred future, or about proposing a set of […]