Robotrains have been running in limited capacity since the late 1960s. The problem isn’t technology. It’s line of sight, and the massive distances trains need to identify and react to obstacles and bring a few hundred tons of steel and cargo to a stop safely.
The radar-based adaptive cruise-control systems fitted to most luxury cars these days could conceivably be adapted to trains, but the massive time and distance needed to slow the train means there’s no effective way such a system could see far enough ahead to react in time. And there are just too many things that can obstruct the track.
But the biggest hurdle to autonomous rail is the idea that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
For self driving vehicles to work you need clear white lane marking along all the roads which will probably take them 40 years
Also i wonder who will be responsible if we hit a bridge or get stuck down a narrow road. Will the trailers also have sensors so it can reverse around bends? Or is it just the case of get the truck stuck around a tight side road and let the driver take care of it.
This clearly hasnt been thought over. Will we have a tacho in during self driving and what will the mode switch be on? Driving / poa/ other work.
I bet a tramper will be sleeping on the bunk while the truck drive its self across the country no more double manning i guess.
I guess it will improve road safety a tiny bit because European trucks will be self driven
Daani:
For self driving vehicles to work you need clear white lane marking along all the roads which will probably take them 40 years
Actually this is not the case. For current tech sure. As its mainly camera based. But with a mix between lidar and cameras its possible to map out the road much more accurately and use AI to work out where the white lane would be.
Suffice to say this is a problem solvable by tech.
Daani:
Also i wonder who will be responsible if we hit a bridge or get stuck down a narrow road. Will the trailers also have sensors so it can reverse around bends? Or is it just the case of get the truck stuck around a tight side road and let the driver take care of it.
Drivers in my view will in the cab til at least 2050 and probably a lot longer. As many here have said one of the biggest issues with this tech is not the tech replacing driving but the tech increasingly dumbing down the job.
Daani:
This clearly hasnt been thought over. Will we have a tacho in during self driving and what will the mode switch be on? Driving / poa/ other work.
Well, we are nowhere near the point of talking about that type of issue as it currently stands it will be set on driving as the driver is still responsible and has to take control of the driving when needed.
Einride launches autonomous freight in EU’s largest transportation market. Are we going to see newly created job positions for ‘Remote Pod Operators’ wherein you will remotely supervise the autonomous pod along it’s route to it’s destination via a computer screen electrek.co/2022/09/15/einride- … on-market/
lancpudn:
Einride launches autonomous freight in EU’s largest transportation market. Are we going to see newly created job positions for ‘Remote Pod Operators’ wherein you will remotely supervise the autonomous pod along it’s route to it’s destination via a computer screen electrek.co/2022/09/15/einride- … on-market/
How are they going to charge these toys.
Good luck getting your milk and bread as the Russians completely cut the gas supplies into Germany, remember the German delegation laughing at Trump 3 years ago when he warned them about relying on Russia for energy, they seem to have lost their famous German sense of humour now.
If only we had something underground we could burn to generate electricity for hundreds of years, and if only we had patriot PM’s that didn’t authorise the destruction of and instead mothballed coal fired power stations
lancpudn:
Einride launches autonomous freight in EU’s largest transportation market. Are we going to see newly created job positions for ‘Remote Pod Operators’ wherein you will remotely supervise the autonomous pod along it’s route to it’s destination via a computer screen electrek.co/2022/09/15/einride- … on-market/
How are they going to charge these toys.
Good luck getting your milk and bread as the Russians completely cut the gas supplies into Germany, remember the German delegation laughing at Trump 3 years ago when he warned them about relying on Russia for energy, they seem to have lost their famous German sense of humour now.
If only we had something underground we could burn to generate electricity for hundreds of years, and if only we had patriot PM’s that didn’t authorise the destruction of and instead mothballed coal fired power stations
Germany among a few other EU countries are heading for recession there is no doubt, Their LNG terminals being built by a Dutch company will take around five years to come online. The eight LNG gassificatrion ships they bought will come online sooner with USA gas but the price will be exorbitant compared to the price they’ve been paying for Russian gas. Germany put the Kibosh on the nord stream pipeline ultimately cutting their own throat but the biggest stalling point to ever getting Russian gas supplies back was Germany selling arms/missiles to Ukraine which have been used to kill Russian military & Russian civilians in Donbass & Luhansk, Those armament companies are now bona fida military targets.
LNG from other countries such as Kuwait, Nigeria, Saudi etc are a no go as production just cant keep up with demand for the foreseeable future from what I’ve been reading.
The EU/UK are determined to get away from the unstable fossil fuel energy market ASAP for renewables, Gas will play a big part in electric power production (if they can get enough of it) until then. Due to the UK & all Paris agreement countries which have all signed on the dotted line for NetZero which means using more fossil fuel energy will mean the emissions will have to be deducted from other industries.
Germany has huge reserves of fracking gas but that’s banned there too.
Will they also have a system to take over yard shunter duties? An autonomous external sound system to communicate with visiting delivery drivers? “Oi Where dyou fink youre goin`”
Will they also have a system to take over yard shunter duties? An autonomous external sound system to communicate with visiting delivery drivers? “Oi Where dyou fink youre goin`”
It makes you wonder if all the new electric trucks will be fitted with the V2X (vehicle to everything) software in them & will communicate with each other. I’d love to see one in action myself to see how well they cope with reversing onto a bay & picking up-dropping the trailer.
V2X could work well in a private yard.
All visiting delivery drivers drop trls and park elsewhere, automated shunt units can move them onto bays without need for one way systems, traffic control, bay signal lights or safety locks.
The auto shunters would mix with normal trucks in the x-over park, but beyond that point, ban road vehicles and humans.
No pedestrians at all walking in the yard with delivery bays. Safer and probably quicker.
About time paper PODs and CMRs were ended too. No need for them, surely?
The technical possibility of self/autonomous vehicles, is without doubt, obviously. That technology is in fact decades old. I remember twenty or so years ago, a car manufacturer having a car that could autonomously drive down a straight road, and perform an overtake of a slower vehicle, with other vehicles around. Only one direction then. I think it was Mercedes?
What is a long way away, is autonomous vehicles mixing with other traffic, or pedestrians. It will most likely require complete segregation.
The technical possibility of self/autonomous vehicles, is without doubt, obviously. That technology is in fact decades old. I remember twenty or so years ago, a car manufacturer having a car that could autonomously drive down a straight road, and perform an overtake of a slower vehicle, with other vehicles around. Only one direction then. I think it was Mercedes?
What is a long way away, is autonomous vehicles mixing with other traffic, or pedestrians. It will most likely require complete segregation.
Maybe it will require a different attitude from the general public?
We know that crashes and deaths are caused by human drivers, but won`t accept even one fatality from an automated system.
Auto systems may be safer but we are demanding perfection, instead of an improvement.
German sense of humour now.