The European Union has financed a study to look at how grouping vehicles into ‘platoons’ or ‘road trains’ on the continent’s motorways could cut fuel consumption, journey times and congestion.
The quite-frankly bizarre idea sees groups of cars linked together via wireless sensors, with a lead vehicle (driven by a ‘professional driver’ – whatever that means) leading the train. The ‘lead driver’ would monitor the status of the road train, allowing those in the other vehicles to sit back, sleep or read a book whilst they travel along motorways.
The EU’s study will be entirely focused on the system working with wireless sensors and up to eight vehicles ranging from your everyday family cars to buses and trains. In theory, these vehicles could be mixed and matched in a ‘road train’, but I’m not sure I’d want to be in between a truck and a bus with no control.
The preliminary report picked up by the BBC says that ‘road trains’ could cut fuel levels by up to 20 percent presumably due to most vehicles being in the lead’s slipstream.
Road Trains: Genius or guaranteed pile-up? – EU Infrastructure — What could possibly go wrong?
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Oh, yeah… nothing like a computer controlled train on a Windows operating system.
Nothin’ new.
I’ve heard about this, but on a US highway. They were building a special central lane and the system could also take up to eight cars.
Somehow, can’t seem to google it, but definitely seen it before on Discovery channel or the like…
I can’t see it happening in the US simply because of the liability assumed by the first driver. Up to 8 trailer vehicles with between one and six passengers is a giant lawsuit waiting to happen.
Also, most large commercial vehicles in the US are subject to lower highway speeds (not that they obey it), so would you trade 15 – 20 MPH (depending on your willingness to speed) for passive driving?
I could see it finding a home with commercial hauling, but the fact that it would probably require special ‘road train’ lanes that would have to be built by states that would get little direct benefit.
One car looses power, catches on fire, gets a puncture, or all of the above.
Who’s the unlucky bastard that has to drive the lead car?
#3 – laxdude – I can’t see it happening in the US…
I do… people will enjoy it more, since they can aim their guns better if they let the road train take care of the driving.
10-4 … looks like we got us a convoy.
First step, apparent convenience, on the path of taking our driving freedoms away. Ahh, look how novel and advanced it is, let’s try it… Next step: you can’t drive yourself, you must file driving plan and join regulated “car train”. Probably with intermediate step of social engineering via pocketbook: if you don’t join “car train” system, you pay more for gas, registration and car purchase taxes… All under guise that this is good for environment while actually it is being done so that Govt. can better control you.
I assume the “lead” driver is a professional driver – like a bus driver. So what happens when the bus driver is texting and swerves into oncoming traffic?
When I was growing up in the seventies, everybody else expected flying cars by the 21st century. I knew that wasn’t going to happen, but I did expect some kind of drive-by-wire system. (I figured a car controlled by sensors under the road. Major roads only) This comes close, I guess.
I liked the new name for the House of Representatives. The Nut house.
One of our TN congress critters voted for the Health bill saying it was a such bad bill the Senate would never go for it as is but he expected the Senate to clean it up.
Why not just build better mass transit systems?
The big issue that will never fly is speed. You think people are going to want to go slower and join this thing??
Never work.
Now if people going between cities could link up, and all the cars could group together, Mercedes did something like that called ‘Platooning’, that would have appeal. when someone wanted to leave the group, they touched their brake and all cars increased their following distance so it could pull out and leave the group.
Could be really good for those of us who commute between cities.
Isn’t this sort of a logical extension of adaptive cruise control? I don’t think it would work (i.e. have a significant benefit) on a normal roadway, but if there were designated roads/lanes that allowed high-speed ‘platooning’ (say, 100-car ‘trains’ at 100 mph) that could be worthwhile. For people w/ 90-minute commutes around NY, SF or LA, it would probably be great if they could exchange 45 min of traffic hell for 30 min of phone calls, checking email, etc. Just gather a train at the EZ pass booth and off you go…
Or take the train… the real train.
The idea has been done for some time, as an http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_Train" rel="nofollow">Amtrak train carrying cars and their passengers between Virginia and Florida.
I wish other routes were available…like across the West. LA to Chicago would be good.
Hmm… Don’t suppose a few random variables like snow, ice, and bald tires would cause any issues, would they?
This has been studied before, in LA, with the vehicles connected by a wireless link so that all cars brake/accelerate together. The idea of a “professional driver” was not in the study.
And this would never work for large trucks. The difference between trucks in climbing a grade due to the weight of the load is to great to make it viable.
Doesn’t go far enough. Somewhere between 30% and 80% of drivers are not road-worthy. Robot cars, that’s the way to go! For inter-city or inter-state travel, I agree with # 15 JoaoPT: “take the train… the real train.”
Aw, this was a really quality post. In theory I’d like to write like this too – taking time and real effort to make a good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and never seem to get something done.