Self-driving' lorries to be tested on UK roads

[luckymucklebackit]

So surprised that this has not been on for discussion this morning

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41038220

 

Not getting a lot of support if the comments are to be believed

 

Jim

[chrisf]

It's daft enough to be true.

 

Chris

[ThePipersSon]

Imagine driving down a slip road onto a motorway, and finding one of these 'convoys' occupying the left-hand lane.  Recipe for disaster.

[NorthBrit]

Imagine driving down a slip road onto a motorway, and finding one of these 'convoys' occupying the left-hand lane.  Recipe for disaster.

 

or stuck at the lights as one part is allowed to go and the rear portion is not!

[BoD]

What a great idea. I think they should join a lot more of these trucks together in a long convey and use an automatic guidance system.

Something like two metal rails would work.

Edited August 25, 2017 by BoD

[4630]

...or trying to leave the motorway when convoys of lorries in the nearside lane are restricting safe access to the exit slip.

[BoD]

...or trying to leave the motorway when convoys of lorries in the nearside lane are restricting safe access to the exit slip.

........ but they've already hidden the signs so you missed the exit anyway.

[Baby Deltic]

Very dangerous. You cannot beat the good old MK1 eyeball when steering a vehicle, so if you are close behind another with practically nothing in your field of view other than the ar$e end of another HGV you are in a very precarious position indeed especially because of the close proximity afforded by the so called synchronised braking under wireless control of the lead vehicle.

What if the lead vehicle has to suddenly lock anchors and swerve to avoid a collision?

What if the lead vehicle comes up behind a 50mph merchant on a dual carriageway and wants to overtake? Does the wireless disconnect when he indicates, and if so what happens to the vehicle behind?

I think if I was a truck driver and I spent all day staring at the back of another truck, I'd go and work in an office. What's the difference between that and staring at a VDU or wall?

This strikes me as being little more than adaptive cruise control where the reaction time of the system in the trailing vehicles is discounted by the wireless link to the lead vehicle so you save a few seconds if anything changes.

 

 

 

Edit: typo's

Edited August 26, 2017 by Baby Deltic

[luckymucklebackit]

"Transport Minister Paul Maynard said platooning could lead to cheaper fuel bills, lower emissions and less congestion."

 

Lower emissions  = big electric locomotive hauling the trucks

Less Congestion = Take them all off the roads

 

Something a bit like this

 

 

 

[Sheffield]

A little while ago efforts were made to allow articulated lorries to tow a trailer. but it was refused as it was thought the resultant vehicle would be too long for the UK's roads.. So how can what will be in effect a single vehicle as long as 3 articulated lorroes be acceptable? They will have to remain close togther, but what if in an emergancy a small car tries to push in between them, perhaps not realising that they can not separate to let the car in?

The idea that there would be less congestion is just nonsence, and the reduction in fuel comsumption would be quite small. However doing away with two drivers is the main advantage, and the reason why the road transport industry is pushing the idea. But what happens when the convoy reaches the end of the motorway? Where will it go to wait while two more drivers take over the two rear lorries? Hard shoulder? But they are doing away with them, to get bigger motorways on the cheap. It will not be long before the industry pushes to be allowed to run them on ordinary roads; "just to the nearest depot" they will claim.

All this, together with the cutting back of electrification does seem to indicate that the present government is less in favour of the railways, and is going back to prefering the roads. Three of four lorries running as one unit is not far short of a train, in economic terms. .

[BoD]

"Transport Minister Paul Maynard said platooning could lead to cheaper fuel bills, lower emissions and less congestion."

 

 

I was almost believing him until he said that savings would be passed on to the consumer.

[Mark Saunders]

...or trying to leave the motorway when convoys of lorries in the nearside lane are restricting safe access to the exit slip.

 

or even join as they hardly ever give way or move over!

 

Mark Saunders

[Legend]

Yes . We've got this solution for freight travelling in convoy it's called a train!

 

Another barking mad solution. Having just come back from the states, I can see how it would work there. Long straight roads over the desert , not much traffic. But that's a world apart from Junctions 15-23 of the M6. So if we've got three of these things travelling in convoy on the inside lane at 50mph you just know there will be a normal truck at 51mph that wants to pass thus causing congestion and tail backs while it try's to overtake on middle lane . I'd do a bit more to update railheads so these three containers can be put on Rail seemlessly and then split at other end . I'd also ban trucks from middle lane of three lane motorways.

[Ron Ron Ron]

A number of companies in the USA and mainland Europe have been testing this technology for a few years now, with live trials on real motorways.

 

Mercedes demo of their Highway Pilot system, firstly on a test track and then on live German autobahns (semi-autonomous on the live roads in this example).

 

 

 

 

 

Note, that they also have a fully driverless programme underway as well.

 

Edited August 25, 2017 by Ron Ron Ron

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

The only UK motorway route I travel regularly that might be safe for this concept is the four lane section of the A1M in the Peterborough area, which has typically very light traffic for the scale of tarmac provision, gentle gradients and curvatures by road standards: and oh look at that, we are heading back to the railway concept...

[Ron Ron Ron]

Volvo

 

 

 

 

 

....and again, out on live roads....

 

Edited August 25, 2017 by Ron Ron Ron

[Titan]

I do wonder if people are missing the point. This is a test not a full scale introduction. The whole point of a test is to find out what the problems actually are, rather than to speculate. Under the circumstances I expect the test to be thorough, in which case it will reveal which issues are real problems and which are imaginary ones.

 

I expect that the test may also reveal other problems that no-one has thought of yet too...

[Ron Ron Ron]

In this video, we learn that human drivers are rubbish......apparently !!!!

 

 

Edited August 25, 2017 by Ron Ron Ron

[Legend]

I do wonder if people are missing the point. This is a test not a full scale introduction. The whole point of a test is to find out what the problems actually are, rather than to speculate. Under the circumstances I expect the test to be thorough, in which case it will reveal which issues are real problems and which are imaginary ones.

 

I expect that the test may also reveal other problems that no-one has thought of yet too...

Yes but sometimes there's the blindingly obvious that doesn't need to be tested. The only stretch of motorway I can think of that is lightly loaded is the M6 north of Carnforth , possibly as far as Abington on the M74 . Exactly parallel to the WCML

[Titan]

That works both ways. Sometimes an apparently blindingly obvious problem turns out not to be once tested. And it will only be a fair test if it is done under typical conditions. A lightly used motorway may yield misleading results.

[mezzoman253]

I do wonder if people are missing the point. This is a test not a full scale introduction. The whole point of a test is to find out what the problems actually are, rather than to speculate. Under the circumstances I expect the test to be thorough, in which case it will reveal which issues are real problems and which are imaginary ones.

 

I expect that the test may also reveal other problems that no-one has thought of yet too...

The result of the "test" will already have been decided. It will be conducted under perfect conditions and will be reported to have gone exactly to plan.

 

Like most things if they were tested independantly, if there is such a thing nowadays, they'd never be allowed to be brought into service.

 

Cynical, me, never!

 

Rob

Edited August 25, 2017 by mezzoman253

[F-UnitMad]

The UK will be needing driverless trucks sooner rather than later, if news reports about how many people from Eastern Europe are going back home now are to be believed.

[96701]

3 lorries travelling at 57.5 mph being overtaken by 3 lorries travelling at 58 mph will definitely relieve congestion (not). I hope the trial consists of more than one set on the road travelling in the same direction on the same dual carriageway (or 2 lane motorway) at the same time.

[Arthur]

 

 

As they pass, cattle will stampede in their fields, milk yields will plummet, elderly ladies will swoon, the drivers will be unable to breathe at those speeds, pedestrians will spontaneously combust and if God had wanted us to have driverless trucks he wouldn't have given us drivers!

 

Armageddon I predict.

 

Calling Ned Ludd, Calling Ned Ludd. Will Mr. Ludd please report to the 21st Century.

 

.

[antrobuscp]

I was just imagining Corporal Jones in charge of the platoon.

 

Given how crowded our roads are, I can't really see this working but I suppose a test is fine so long as it is a real world test. Personally I feel it is an example of the art of the possible as opposed to the practical.

 

Colin

Edited August 26, 2017 by antrobuscp