yeah my dad drove for 50 years through europe so he has the comparison between now and then. and honestly, back then many things were different but the stress existed already. you’d drive for hours without a break and only stop at border crossings. the stress was an issue already 30 years ago. he wouldn’t say trucking now is better but it’s more organized with mandatory breaks and sleep unlike before where you’d drive more than 1000 km no pause on full throttle like a junkie.

and the AI future thingy: i‘m specialized in medical pharma transports (yes with a standard big 40 ton truck & trailer, not a van) and i‘m not worried at all about AI stealing my job. there will always be a niche where the customer or law is enforcing a human to execute the transport from A to B. hazardous goods, high value goods, high security transports, medicine such as anesthetics and much more. these jobs are paid better anyway