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Driverless lorries.


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Hopefully the threat of having one behind you will stop the selfish **** who like to sit in the left hand lane of dual carriageways and motorways doing 45-50mph and forcing HGV's into the overtaking lanes :good:

So a chap towing an unbraked trailer at 50mph "legally" it a ****? :hmm:

 

70mph is a limit, not a target. Fair enough 45mph is bad! But in certain circumstances 50mph is just fine. I drive between 55-60 with cruise control. Saves me a fortune on fuel. If I was to do 70mph the efficiency is lost. I drive a 2.0 petrol and get 44mpg at 55-60 as opposed to about 37mpg at 70.

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One of the biggest problem I can see I motorcycles overtaking then realising there are quite a few lorries packed together and nowhere to go if there are oncoming cars once a few of them are squashed and the insurance companies paying out loads maybe they will think again all that fuel saving gone in one claim

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Most of the foreign lorries on our roads appear to be driverless. He is sitting there but has no idea where he is going or what lane he should be in and is completely flummoxed by roundabouts and red lights, so its safe to say Europe has had them for quite some time.

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Instead of driverless lorries, perhaps it would be more prudent to trunk by rail. What city doesn't had a rail link?

 

Some companies were even considering reusing the canal networks.

 

If driverless lorries are to be a serious suggestion, then perhaps they need to install a service road alongside motorways etc for them to use! Therefor freeing up the motorways, and removing any inherent risks of said lorries?

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I woul imagine they'd only be allowed to drive so close together on Mways so u don't have the problem of oncoming traffic and would have big warning signs on the back to warn the length of convoy.

Could see it being a pain if u pulled out to overtake and missed ur junction thou, but then again that can happen nowadays it a few wagons are close together.

 

Would road trains work in UK? Would the roads be wide enough?

Been 20 yrs since I followed a road train and were a nightmare to attempt to overtake on gravel roads esp when ur motor is a heap of junk (despite having a 4.7l petrol engine) like driving into a dust storm.

But even on tarmarc it surprising how much the towed trailers move, it ends up like a big snake esp when u get up to 4 trailer, 1 could be 2 ft over to one side were another trailer is 2 ft over to the oppisate side.

They do take up a lot of room.

 

Would our tractor units be big enough to pull 1?

I know out in OZ they can pull up to 4 trailers dunno the max weight. 1 of the farms I was on had a weighbridge ticket up on its wall a managed to over load a wagon and drag by 40T and the boy just took it, driving from Queensland to Melbourne so not a local trip either.

 

There is also a big rivalary between the 2 major truck companies (or possibly engine makers? (Cummings and Kenilworth I think?)) can mind when travelling dirt back roads 1 road stop/pub/shop (sort of near to copper pedy) had a photo off 1 road train pulling a broken down 2nd road train.

Was a quality photo and the front tractor unit look an ancient heap of junk too

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I believe the reason these trucks will have drivers is because the systems are still in development, so the driver is required to steer and take over the pedal when needed. Their ultimate goal is for only the lead truck to have a driver, all the others play follow the leader autonomously, giving benefits in fuel economy (reducing drag as trucks can be closer together) and increase safety (majority of accidents are human error).

 

 

 

The guy who ran the original tests in the US said on the radio this morning that if another car needs to split the lorries (to get to the hard should, exit etc), the lorry behind recognises this and increases the gap to the lorry in front to allow for the car in the middle. I dont know what range the wifi communications between trucks allows, but it doesnt sound like they have to stay together to work

Love to see how this works when you have a traffic jam on the motorway with two lanes going into one! How long will it take for the que jumpers to realise that the lorry convoy WILL let them in!

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Never seen railway lines in a supermarket car park.

No but from the the warehouse at the sidings, SINGLE wagons can then be sent to the local depots as the bulk of the trunking has been done by rail. The need for the large number of wagons is to trunk from international to regional hubs. So if the int to reg is done via freight train, no need for the so called driverless lorries really.
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This morning there was a tragic accident on the M1 near Milton Keynes, 2 lorries and a mini bus ,8 dead and 2 men arrested for causing death by dangerous driving , will driverless lorries make it safer

 

It's very sad. Considering that one of the drivers was also charged with driving whilst over the alcohol limit you could argue that they will be safer!

 

Considering the congestion on the rail network I can't see how that would be the answer either.

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Ir will never happen, its pie in the sky and someone is making huge amounts on government funded research (presumably)

 

Here is a good video of auto drive on a Tesla. These are available in production now. I have driven one and it is seriously impressive. It in't the future it is the present.

 

https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/autopilot

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But like all these great inventions on modern cars (or machines in general) all great when brand new and working but wot happens further down the line?

On the 2nd hand car marketi I wouldn't fancy buying 1

 

If the autopilot is broke will the car immobilise itself just in case it no longer trusts the owner to drive ?

Will it work when its -10?

 

Was just speaking about those fancy indicators on Audi's yesterday look quite cool, but if u get a problem/break it its 300 quid for a new unit.

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But like all these great inventions on modern cars (or machines in general) all great when brand new and working but wot happens further down the line?

On the 2nd hand car marketi I wouldn't fancy buying 1

 

If the autopilot is broke will the car immobilise itself just in case it no longer trusts the owner to drive ?

Will it work when its -10?

 

Was just speaking about those fancy indicators on Audi's yesterday look quite cool, but if u get a problem/break it its 300 quid for a new unit.

 

 

It's a wonder we ever progressed from living in a cave.

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