Workers facing new competition from electronics

Nebraska got its start thanks to the railroad, and transportation continues to be a key industry, whether its rail, highway, air, or, along the state's eastern border, even river.

And, it's a bright spot in the current economy, with the American Association of Railroads announcing Wednesday that major freight railroads expect to hire 11,000 people and invest $13 billion in their rail networks and equipment this year.

And, it's relatively recession-proof growth, since the railroads need to replace the 22 percent of its workforce that will be eligible to retire in the next five years.

That's important news for McCook and Southwest Nebraska, home to many BNSF workers.

But it's not all rails.

According to the Labor Department, of the 157,000 jobs added in January, 5,000 of them were in the trucking industry. Yes, December's trucking-jobs gain was revised downward from an original 4,200 to 3,400, but November's trucking employment was revised upward by about 6,500.

But while there are more truckers and railroaders, total transportation jobs fell by 14,200 in January.

And, unfortunately, many new workers won't show up in the labor statistics.

According to the Robotic Industries Association, 2012 was a record year for robot sales. Including robots from foreign suppliers, 25,557 robots, valued at $1.66 billion, were sold to North American manufacturers last year, 17 percent more than the previous year.

Most of them went into the recovering automobile manufactuing business, which bought 47 percent more robots than the record set only a year before.

Other increases were recorded in robots used in life sciences/pharmaceuticals and metalworking industries, more specifically assembly, spot welding, arc welding, coating and dispensing and material handling.

Unfortunately, transportation won't be immune to the encroachment of electronic competition.

Led by Google, robotically-controlled or "fully autonomous" vehicles are already legal in California, Florida and Nevada as of this month.

As always, the Chinese are getting into the act, recently demonstrating an SUV that completed a 71-mile test drive in 85 minutes, reaching speeds of 65 mph, according the the official newspaper of the People's Liberation Army.

The vehicle, controlled by a computer that can track nearby traffic with radar video cameras and satellite navigation, overtook slower moving traffic 33 times and once refrained from overtaking because it would be dangerous.

Proponents assure us that autonomous cars will be safer because they don't drink, are never distracted, have a 360-degree view of the surrounding area and never doze off.

Google robotics geek Sebastian Thrun predicts automonomous vehicles will reduce traffic accidents by 90 percent, and could bring fatalities down to the same level as commercial aviation, That would mean 320 fatal car accidents per year compared to 32,367 in 2011.

But don't hold your breath. Anyone who has worked with technology knows that it breaks down from time to time, and needs human intervention to function.

For the long term, robot mechanic may be the trade to learn. For now, transportation seems to be the way to go -- but don't wait too long!