Greetings, readers and voyeurs of Autonomous Truck(er)s.
My apologies for how quiet it has been around here as of late.
Consider it the calm before the storm, for I have quite a few things I’m working on, which, over and above being a Dad and trucking, have been consuming a great deal of my time. In due course these projects will all end up here for your education and enjoyment.
As I have alluded to in past posts, I am working on starting my own podcast, and have a number of them already recorded, as well as several more guests booked.
Recorded thus far -
1) James Year, Syracuse University Grad Student and photojournalist, whose current project is documenting the lives of those facing the (perceived) automation of their jobs, especially truckers. You can find James website here.
Here’s a photo James took of me at the end of a days logging; he deserves a medal for having to put up with my shit in person and in a truck for so many hours.
2) Rachel Premack, editorial director and supply chains maven at FreightWaves.com
This one will be a two parter - part one, Rachel goes trucking in a Big Rig for the very first time. Part two, we catch up to discuss her pet project of critiquing the Motor Carrier Act of 1980.
She deserves the same medal due Mr Year above.
3) Will Cook, trucker, and organizer behind America Without Drivers, an advocacy group highlighting the various issues implied with Autonomous Vehicles. This one is a cracker of a conversation, and gets to the heart of what this Substack is all about.
4) Graham Brown, UK based Proud Englishman, Trucker, and the man behind The Lorryist, a substack you should go and read as soon as you’re done here. Graham is a real writers writer, and you can tell he really puts all that time behind the wheel into crafting his observations and ideas.
5) Chase Barber, economist, oil rig mover, logger, and a principal behind Edison Motors, a small company in British Columbia that is building hybrid diesel/electric logging trucks, and who is going head to head with companies like Tesla. Chase is a very charming and entertaining guy to speak with; high of mileage and experience, and for those who like to nerd out on engineering and tech, you won’t want to miss this.
6) My very old and very good friend Gavin Smith, Kiwi Trucker extraordinaire. I met Gavin up on The Ice - the man has literally been everywhere, and very graciously shared his life story with me to pass on to you.
Gavin is retired from Trucking, and now works full time helping his fellow veterans. You can read about the boat he served on in The Royal New Zealand Navy and what he’s doing for his fellows here and here.
I have a few more guests lined up, who shall remain nameless until the recordings are complete; one of whom is a fine young lady who has served on oceangoing Oil Tankers, offshore drilling rigs, and works for The Canadian Coast Guard, and another woman who is both a teacher, teachers union rep, and fellow Freedom Convoy Protester - I’m looking forward to speaking with her about bridging the gap between public sector unions in Canada, who were actively hostile to The Freedom Convoy, and the seemingly abandoned principles of bodily autonomy and workers rights. I’m also hoping to chat with the organizer of a local truck show, and director of a truck driving school that is a subdivision of a local technical college.
I’ve yet to decide on when to ‘launch’ and start releasing episodes, but it should be no later than the New Year.
My keyboard and brain case have also been very busy trying to complete two other writing projects.
The first is a chapter to a book I’ve been asked to contribute to, whose working title I am told is ‘The Tyranny of Fear’, which will be an examination of how, broadly speaking, the political ‘left’, the world over, dropped the ball on Covid and allowed society to be steamrolled by the most draconian and authoritarian impositions on our freedoms we have seen in our lifetimes. I do not anticipate that this book will be published until much later in 2023, however, everyone had to have their chapters in by now; writing and editing have been very costly to my time under this deadline.
I look forward to sharing it with you whenever it comes out.
The other writing project is also under construction, but once complete, should be live and online by February. I’m really looking forward to this one, a review of Karen Levy’s newly released book Data Driven : Truckers, Technology, and the New Workplace Surveillance.
Much like the project of Will Cook above, Karen’s book is very much in the ‘wheelhouse’ of this Substack, and to be honest and with the fullest of disclosures, Karen’s thesis is the exact same as mine, except she is looking at it from an academic’s perspective, with many years of study under her belt, while my conclusions have been reached over many miles, most of them actively avoiding the surveillance Professor Levy examines.
You should go read her book, now, and then read my review later.
Data Driven can be purchased through the publisher Princeton University Press.
In the meantime, I was a guest on the Lombard Trucking podcast, where my gracious host Mike and I discussed issues facing truckers and our lives on the road, as well as Freedom Convoy, and some smaller advocacy organizations I hope to write about here next year.
You can listen on Spotify -
and Apple Podcasts
Laster this week I should be recording with the wonderful James Smith, David Slavick, and Heidi Matthews, over at The Popular Show, where we will take a deep dive into the recently wrapped up Public Order Emergency Commission in Canada, the legally required inquiry into circumstances surrounding Prime Minister Paul Bernardo and his invocation of The Emergencies Act, which stamped out The Freedom Convoy protest, and sent shockwaves around the world with the brazen authoritarianism it granted the government, who went about seizing assets and freezing the economic lives of peaceful protesters.
Heidi is a lawyer and Legal Scholar in Canada; David and James are both ‘men of the left’ and commentators on the political zeitgeist. I spoke with them back in February while The Freedom Convoy was underway, and you can listen here.
If I don’t post anything before then, I’d like to wish you and yours A Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, or whichever seasonal festivities you undertake.
Talk Soon,
G
Thanks for the mention. Really looking forward to the podcast, the other guests sound so much more interesting than me! When's it going to start?