Am I the only one who thinks this semi-autonomous convoy system is a daft idea? Has anyone considered the psychological effects on the steering wheel attendants in the second and third lorries? (and those in the proposed driverless cars?) What happens when another vehicle slips into the gap between the lorries, such as often happens at motorway exits/entrances? What about when the leading truck passes a green traffic light which then changes - do the others follow through, or get left behind? What about overtaking and being overtaken, bearing in mind the length of such an outfit? Is the supposed fuel saving (from slipstreaming) and reduced congestion (?) worthwhile, and was the government right to put £8.1 million into the trials without asking us first?
fodenway:
Am I the only one who thinks this semi-autonomous convoy system is a daft idea? Has anyone considered the psychological effects on the steering wheel attendants in the second and third lorries? (and those in the proposed driverless cars?) What happens when another vehicle slips into the gap between the lorries, such as often happens at motorway exits/entrances? What about when the leading truck passes a green traffic light which then changes - do the others follow through, or get left behind? What about overtaking and being overtaken, bearing in mind the length of such an outfit? Is the supposed fuel saving (from slipstreaming) and reduced congestion (?) worthwhile, and was the government right to put £8.1 million into the trials without asking us first?
Then in your ideal world fodenway,all vehicles should be led by someone waving a red flag?
The world,and all in it moves on,or should do,we can’t just sit back and stagnate,it’s called progression,and that progression is funded by innovative investment.
David
David, the Red Flag was rightly consigned to history well over a century ago, and I have no objection to change when it is sensible, practical and beneficial. As it is, I don’t consider the supposed advantages of this idea meet any of those criteria. Britain’s road system is too crowded for this to be safe and practical. Dedicated lanes could work, but the cost would far outweigh the benefits. The Roadrailer or Kangaroo/piggyback bimodal rail systems work in some other countries, notably the USA, but journey distances in the UK are too short to be workable. In my opinion, the funds would be better spent in developing alternative propulsion methods.
fodenway:
Am I the only one who thinks this semi-autonomous convoy system is a daft idea? Has anyone considered the psychological effects on the steering wheel attendants in the second and third lorries? (and those in the proposed driverless cars?) What happens when another vehicle slips into the gap between the lorries, such as often happens at motorway exits/entrances? What about when the leading truck passes a green traffic light which then changes - do the others follow through, or get left behind? What about overtaking and being overtaken, bearing in mind the length of such an outfit? Is the supposed fuel saving (from slipstreaming) and reduced congestion (?) worthwhile, and was the government right to put £8.1 million into the trials without asking us first?
I believe it is only planned for motorways - with no traffic lights. I understand your concerns, but with technology the different conditions and situations, but not all, can be covered. There have been similar trials here in Germany for a number of years now. As with driverless cars, it will take time before it is the norm, but I am sure it will happen.
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fodenway:
Am I the only one who thinks this semi-autonomous convoy system is a daft idea? Has anyone considered the psychological effects on the steering wheel attendants in the second and third lorries? (and those in the proposed driverless cars?) What happens when another vehicle slips into the gap between the lorries, such as often happens at motorway exits/entrances? What about when the leading truck passes a green traffic light which then changes - do the others follow through, or get left behind? What about overtaking and being overtaken, bearing in mind the length of such an outfit? Is the supposed fuel saving (from slipstreaming) and reduced congestion (?) worthwhile, and was the government right to put £8.1 million into the trials without asking us first?
I guess the gap will be too small to accommodate a car. In the event of a particularly stupid motorist getting between the vehicles, maybe a radar device similar to the parking aids in some cars will sound a buzzer to wake the “lorry driver” up, so he can flash his lights and wave the V’s? 
I think it’s a great idea- much safer than lorries following each other at 50-100ft spacing, which seems to be the present norm on busy motorways. The drivers can do other tasks, and will be fresh to drive the lorry when it needs to leave the motorway.
[zb]
anorak:fodenway:
Am I the only one who thinks this semi-autonomous convoy system is a daft idea? Has anyone considered the psychological effects on the steering wheel attendants in the second and third lorries? (and those in the proposed driverless cars?) What happens when another vehicle slips into the gap between the lorries, such as often happens at motorway exits/entrances? What about when the leading truck passes a green traffic light which then changes - do the others follow through, or get left behind? What about overtaking and being overtaken, bearing in mind the length of such an outfit? Is the supposed fuel saving (from slipstreaming) and reduced congestion (?) worthwhile, and was the government right to put £8.1 million into the trials without asking us first?I guess the gap will be too small to accommodate a car. In the event of a particularly stupid motorist getting between the vehicles, maybe a radar device similar to the parking aids in some cars will sound a buzzer to wake the “lorry driver” up, so he can flash his lights and wave the V’s?
My brother was driving a Volkswagon last week with their cruise control on
He set the distance he wanted to stay behind traffic and if a car pulled in front it slowed down and when the car pulled away again it accelerated to the set speed
If you think that all traffic becomes autonomous then it surely must reduce stupidity on the roads
No cars cutting in at the last moment trying to enter junctions when there is no room causing you to slam on
In the platooning trials in Europe the trucks actually braked and=adjusted their speed quicker than the human could do it.
If you look at what some modern trucks are kitted out with it’s about 95% there already.
The driver just has to steer on the motorway once all the gizmo’s are on
Personally I wouldn’t want to be the steering wheel attendant of the second or third lorry sat staring at the back doors of the one 20 ft in front of me for 100 miles or more. Contrary to what Anorak might think it would stress me rather than leaving me feeling fresh when I leave the Motorway. No doubt the “control-less” lorry will come, dumbing down the job even more.
Makes you wonder what they are going to pay someone to be the number two and three too, being a long distance driver was never considered a skilled profession outside the industry so what price will be put on this, one thing is for sure not many young kids are too keen to drive HGV’s today and it will be even less so with this ‘advanced technology’ unless they are allowed to watch telly or be on their mobiles while sat there!
Seeing how some of the motors drive on the M/ways nowadays I think the ■■■■■■■ are already “Platooning” or whatever other stupid ■■■■■■■ name they give it ! So what happens if all three motors aren’t going to the same drop ? What a load of bollox ! Cheers Bewick.
I think that a solution that may work, would be to extend motorway service area parking for trailers that can be moved by road train type set ups (not Leylands) pulling up to three trailers on a trunk basis to the nearest parking area to be forwarded on by normal tractor units for delivery.
Bewick:
Seeing how some of the motors drive on the M/ways nowadays I think the [zb] are already “Platooning” or whatever other stupid [zb] name they give it ! So what happens if all three motors aren’t going to the same drop ? What a load of bollox ! Cheers Bewick.
They simply peel off and drive the last few miles on their own. It’s not rocket science…
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The answer,surely, is to sort out the railway. The canadians run long trains with distribution networks at either end. Admittedly our distances are much shorter but “Platooning” will only tie a load of trucks together and provide another mobile road block. I can see it working on the M6 at night, but how for example do you get the eastern europeans to play ball? They represent a huge percentage of lorries on our roads now. When a Lithuanian Volvo creeps past a platoon the road will be blocked for even longer than it is now. Jim.
Wow, another wheeze from the experts taken up by the look- at- me politicians. You know the experts who claimed that the Titanic couldn’t sink, the Bumlbebee cannot fly and that Thalidomide is perfectly safe. ‘Slipstream the lorries closer together to save fuel’, so emergency brake assist incorporates live data for the coefficient of friction between the tyres and the road surface? Jesus wept.
jmc jnr:
The answer,surely, is to sort out the railway. The canadians run long trains with distribution networks at either end. Admittedly our distances are much shorter but “Platooning” will only tie a load of trucks together and provide another mobile road block. I can see it working on the M6 at night, but how for example do you get the eastern europeans to play ball? They represent a huge percentage of lorries on our roads now. When a Lithuanian Volvo creeps past a platoon the road will be blocked for even longer than it is now. Jim.
They did that years ago - it was called Tartan Arrow, The train took all the freight from Stratford to Glasgow every night- stopping at Brum on the way 
jmc jnr:
The answer,surely, is to sort out the railway. The canadians run long trains with distribution networks at either end. Admittedly our distances are much shorter but “Platooning” will only tie a load of trucks together and provide another mobile road block. I can see it working on the M6 at night, but how for example do you get the eastern europeans to play ball? They represent a huge percentage of lorries on our roads now. When a Lithuanian Volvo creeps past a platoon the road will be blocked for even longer than it is now. Jim.
No disrespect, but you mustn’t have been on the M6 at night recently. Road closures are a nightly feature with miles and miles of diversions. I run 3 night trunks between Trafford Park and Newmarket and the drivers never know when they set off which way they will end up going. If there are no diversions it’s a 630 Km round trip, one night last week they did 702 Km and maxed out on a 10 hour driving duty. These roadworks and diversions are scheduled for the next 3 years at least, then no doubt another programme will commence.
Some five years back some large hauliers tried out B double outfits on private land. To try and prove a point Stan Robinson the owner of one illegally took it out on the road, getting only a few yards before being stopped by the police and escorted back. The official response follows:
“A spokeswoman for the Department for Transport said: 'Last year, following independent research, we announced that goods vehicles substantially larger than those currently permitted would not be allowed on UK roads for the foreseeable future.
'This is due to the potential environmental drawbacks to such vehicles, concerns about the road safety risks they pose and a substantial additional investment needed to accommodate them on existing infrastructure.”
Now his lorry was the length of a standard artic plus another trailer on a dolly, so capacity two-thirds of a platoon of three, only one emission producing engine and only one driver needed, so in what way is platooning three lorries now acceptable only five years on which apart from the lack of a drawbar between each vehicle amounts to the same thing but twice the length? Has our infrastructure changed that much since then? And really how much better for the environment are three lorries controlled by one driver, apart from the advantage of slipstream which I suspect in real terms is slight. After all the engines are still running and will need to produce the same power to keep up. And as long as there are drivers in the second and third motors to deal with emergencies, surely the space between them will need to be large enough to give them room to manoeuvre. Who’d want to be the “driver” in the back two, mind you, following that close, when it goes ■■■■ up they’ll be spared from seeing doom approaching!
Or is it me – a few months short of my “three score years and ten” maybe I’m going ga-ga? 
Bernard
cav551:
Wow, another wheeze from the experts taken up by the look- at- me politicians. You know the experts who claimed that the Titanic couldn’t sink, the Bumlbebee cannot fly and that Thalidomide is perfectly safe. ‘Slipstream the lorries closer together to save fuel’, so emergency brake assist incorporates live data for the coefficient of friction between the tyres and the road surface? Jesus wept.
Maybe the front vehicle’s ABS data is transmitted to the next, and so on. IE if the front vehicle encounters a low-mu bit of road under braking, its subsequent braking will be reduced, to prevent the following lorries hitting it. The stopping distance of the “train” will be increased according to the number of lorries in the platoon, IE a 50ft puddle traversed by a platoon of three lorries will be effectively 150ft long. Problems will occur in fresh snow- the front lorry will experience the benefit of snow building up and compacting in front of its wheels, while the following vehicles will be on a hard-packed polished surface.
I still think it will be safer than the present situation, in which no vehicle leaves anything like a safe stopping distance to the one in front (240ft at 60mph, according to the highway code) so, if one lorry has to brake suddenly, lots of them collide.
I would not like to be the engineer who has to sign any such system off, though- any failure, quantified or not, will illicit a firestorm of popular condemnation, like that in the second sentence of your post.
Even if the front vehicle could transmit ABS data about wheel slip to the rest of the Platoon, by the time ABS on the lead vehicle has come into play it is too late.
The systems will no doubt include many fail-safes for example when the lead driver applies the brakes the following combinations brakes will be applied it will be a wireless connection it won’t need to wait for the vehicle in front to slow down for the following ones to brake. the speed at which canbus electronics work is mind blowing with sensors monitoring systems and making adjustments thousands of times per second.
Back in July Coomsey asked how long before we see driverless trucks ? and I guessed 5 - 7 years
My guess is 5 - 7 years before we see platooning. The technology is already there and I believe a couple of years ago a number of trial vehicles travelled across Europe to a technology summit.
There is not only the drivers wages to be considered, there is also an improvement in fuel consumption as the following vehicles can travel much closer and take advantage of the leading truck’s slipstream thereby creating less drag.
Obviously there will need to be infrastructure changes and these vehicles will be only allowed on certain motorways to start with.
But given the standard of some of the clowns out there it can’t come soon enough.
I’ll get me coat
Well if there are trials starting next year I think a further 6 years it not out of the ballpark
I recall back in the 70’s three motors belonging to my Old long gone pal Curly Cargill were “Platooning” coming of the M/way on the slip road one day. The first one stopped at the roundabout entrance, the middle one just managed to stop ( Phew !) but tail end Charlie stuffed into the middle one who was a “■■■ paper” distance away from the front one ! Oh! dear “crunch” and the one in the middle was one of Curly’s first two LV ERF’s he bought which he had just “lovingly” refurb’d not long before this incident ! and apparently he was not a happy Bunny mainly because all his many hours of careful work had gone down “the toilet” as the old “D” reg was in a right ■■■■■■■ state I gathered. Platooning ! it’s already been tried and failed 
Cheers Bewick.