The absolute brutal truth is that you read this whole career guide and there's a chance this job won't exist in twenty years (or will at least be on its way out). Let’s face it: We're going to have self-driving commuter cars soon, and industrial trucks and tractors are like way slower-moving cars.

Of course, automating these machines takes more than programming for object avoidance and getting from point A to point B. Operators use these vehicles to perform complex, precise tasks and are sometimes forced to improvise. That said, if everything keeps going the way Google wants it to, the technology is coming. There would be an intermittent period of transition, but don't let the robot invasion take you by surprise. We warned ya.

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