Driverless trucks

[GastonJ]

Driverless lorries are to be trialled in the UK, Chancellor George Osborne is expected to confirm in his Budget speech this month.
The Department for Transport said the UK would "lead the way" in testing driverless "HGV platoons".
The technology enables vehicles to move in a group, using less fuel, it said.
The Times reported trials would take place on the M6 in Cumbria later in 2016, with vehicles in convoy headed by a driver in the leading lorry.
The tests would take place on a quiet stretch of the motorway, it said.
The paper said the plans could result in platoons of up to 10 computer-controlled lorries being driven metres apart from each other.
It said the chancellor was preparing to fund the trials as part of plans to speed up lorry deliveries and cut congestion.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35737104

So now the drivers will really be able to sit back, get the gas stove out and cook up bacon sarnies as they drive along. That's great having the drone trucks following the lead truck on a motorway, it means if one crashes the others will follow. One flaw i teh plan though

Where is there a quiet stretch of the M6?

*shrug*

[Meat-Head]

WTF shoot one of the lorrys tires out, drop a goat down, see what happens.

then pour some acid on the fan belt, loosen the air bleed screw

see what happens.

so the idea to save fuel, if lead lorry driver guving it large?

[GastonJ]

Yeah the government wants truckers to save fuel so that they dont' pay the government as much fuel duty.... that'd be a first. WOuld be a good excuse to raise the cost of fuel again.

[rds60h]

I can see it now, the 10 lorry convoy on the inside lane traveling at 68mph, an independently owned lorry in the middle lane restricted to 70mph struggling to overtake and a huge line of cars on the outside being led by the "I'm doing 70mph so why should I pull over" driver on the outside lane.
The other fault I see in this is how often do 10 lorry loads from one company deliver to the same place ?
Or, even 10 differently owned lorries come from the same start point to deliver to the same finish point ?
Typical interfering politician or Road Planner idea............................Brainless !!

[Meat-Head]

ON TOPIC

Jeed driverless forklift trucks to do the load/unloading

[Meat-Head]

Thats a thought

https://mobile.twitter.com/MeatHead_Motors/status/706744542066810880?p=v

[Meat-Head]

OFF TOOIC (needs moving to dricerless car thread)

Rumor states the google driverless car has been redesigned by a bus.
there is a video, but not to hand

[GastonJ]

It hit he bus at 6mph, not that redesigned in the scheme of things. Now a truck hitting a bus at 6mph would be worse since the truck wouldn't be stopped as easily by the thin aluminium shell of a bus as a car would.

[DOUGALMCD]

As it has been pointed out where is the smooth empty road? The torrential rain and extreme blizzards that we get no driverless vehicle can cope with that. The deer or dog or drunk that runs on to the motorway? Vehicles move in a group everyday it's called m25 Anyone seen train crashes everywhere lately? They are on a single track and have drivers and without them it would be worse as a computer and program would run it. The program would have to envisage all things possible. Nothing is about saving fuel the exercise is pointless and a total waste of taxpayers money. What are they going to do stop everyone else driving? Fix the roads, stay in the house and we can all do virtual reality. haha

[GastonJ]

I would guess that they would want no-one to drive anything at all, let alone a car or a truck. The inevitable outcome would be no lorry drivers and no car drivers, no taxi drivers, no bus drivers. That would be one hell of a lot of unemployed people, and no revenue from speeding invoices. That also leaves the government with a revenue problem to try make back the, at least, ?38 billion that it makes from drivers. So the net outcome would be perhaps a million unemployed and ?38 billion a year less revenue to contend with. Then there is the issue of insurance for all those unmanned vehicles, no revenue from the tax imposed on insurance premiums either.

Perhaps the government would hope that there wouldn't be a million more unemployed because the driverless cars and trucks would run them over. That would also save on paying those people pensions and of course save money on the NHS resources that would have been used had those people grown old etc. Whether that would fill in the ?38 billion gap is another thing.

I can't really figure out what the government have to gain from driverless vehicles, unless of course they fully control everything and charge per mile to make more than they currently are. Perhaps it's just about control. One thing is for sure, unless there is a tax angle in doing so; the government wouldn't bother.

[Meat-Head]

OFF TOOIC

Was the driver of the bus invoiced for leaving the scence
without exchangung details.


bonus side would be stop scaming taxi drivers taking you miles for taxi ride

[GastonJ]

The only conclusion that can be had from this is that the companies and so government will ensure that you cannot own a car, thus controlling when, where and how you will travel. Try a ram raid in a car that, due to it's software, cannot break the Highway Code.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Meat-Head]

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[GastonJ]

I could be wrong here, but if you have a wheel that could move in all 3 dimensions, shaped like a sphere then how do you attach it to the car? If the answer, as claimed maglev, then another point to add is that rubber, the stuff that makes up most of the tyre (except Yokahama tyres, that are made of concrete), isn't magnetic. I know it's a minor point, but that's just me