I think we got ourselves a convoy

[Kwacky]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41038220" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Small convoys of partially self-driving lorries will be tried out on major British roads by the end of next year, the government has announced.

A contract has been awarded to the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) to carry out the tests of vehicle "platoons".

Up to three lorries will travel in formation, with acceleration and braking controlled by the lead vehicle.

In the platoons, the lead vehicle will be controlled by a human driver and will communicate with the rest of the convoy wirelessly.

But the head of the AA said platoons raised safety concerns.


Why do the AA always moan when there's a suggestion of a change? They complained about the smart motorways because "there are safety concerns".

[Jack]

why not just run roadtrains ?

[Jack]

or seeing as how we are investing so much in our rail network put freight back on rails

[Kwacky]

Road trains are a single unit so they struggle to navigate roundabouts and junctions. Our roads are too congested for them.

[D41]

I think it could work. There's driverless cares here in L.A......so all you'd have essentially is a driverless vehicle being supervised by the driver of another vehicle.

Dunno about HGVs being the best place to start.....go big or go home, I suppose.

[Kwacky]

These aren't technically driverless, they're supervised. But the trucks computer reacts quicker than a human can, so in theory it should be safer. When we see something it takes us time to decide what it is, how best to react to it and to put that plan into action. Even when it's something simple like "car in front is braking".

It's no different to the tech on aircraft. Pilots can take a back seat if they want to.

[D41]

So...a bit like on Blake's 7 when Zen controls the Liberator instead of the pesky humans??

[Kwacky]

exactly that. Good reference.

[D41]

[Rossgo]

No way could we have those road trains...bloody he'll I've seen a million and one lorry drivers hit into the low train bridge in our little (Not so little now) town over the years because the driver couldn't recognise the fact that it was higher than the bridge, could you imagine the damage one of those road trains would do on our little roads

I like the idea of the system but not being funny if the system fails then the 'supervising driver will fail too because he or she will rely on it getting it right first time, by the second time it will be too late when the roads are congested at 6PM and every Bastard are fighting to get home

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk