Just drive the trucks onto a train and drive off the other end of the country.
Simple.
What’s the point? I’m not sure I buy the environmently angle. All the trucks will have a driver. Presume all will be manually driven to the motorway and from mway to the drop. So nobody saves the cost of the driver.
Multidrop work particularly where the driver unloads won’t ever go driverless. The more I read about it the less worried I am. Don’t think it’ll be the end of trucking. Will change some, I might not bother with getting a class 1 licence.
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Drivers 2 and 3 sat staring at a set of doors a coupla feet away. Bored and short of stimulation? Sleep or video games? The format proposed won’t last long. Not much need for Ms 2 and Mr 3 on the main route.
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Franglais:
Drivers 2 and 3 sat staring at a set of doors a coupla feet away. Bored and short of stimulation? Sleep or video games? The format proposed won’t last long. Not much need for Ms 2 and Mr 3 on the main route.Sent from my GT-S7275R using Tapatalk
So what drivers 2 and 3 waiting at the motorway exit to drive lorry to its final destination? What if those trucks suffer a mechanical failure on route? You might need those drivers to deal with that situation.
I agree it’d be boring to sit there but I don’t see how unmanned vehicles are practical or safe.
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Country is a joke… constantly trying to run before they can walk… what happens when you come up to a set of lights… by the time the 3rd trailer has crossed you know it’s going straight back to red so other road users are going to throw their toys out the pram…
Franglais:
Drivers 2 and 3 sat staring at a set of doors a coupla feet away. Bored and short of stimulation? Sleep or video games? The format proposed won’t last long. Not much need for Ms 2 and Mr 3 on the main route.Sent from my GT-S7275R using Tapatalk
Like airline pilots they’re supposed to deal with the unexpected, but as a species we aren’t very good at staying alert in low stimulus situations for long periods, I believe the designers have a warning for the drivers to say the system needs intervention, but not sure how quick a driver staring at the back of a trailer can react to an emergency, even if their attention hasn’t drifted off.
SouthEastCashew:
Country is a joke… constantly trying to run before they can walk… what happens when you come up to a set of lights… by the time the 3rd trailer has crossed you know it’s going straight back to red so other road users are going to throw their toys out the pram…
Which traffic lights on the UK’s Motorway network would these be?
muckles:
SouthEastCashew:
Country is a joke… constantly trying to run before they can walk… what happens when you come up to a set of lights… by the time the 3rd trailer has crossed you know it’s going straight back to red so other road users are going to throw their toys out the pram…Which traffic lights on the UK’s Motorway network would these be?
Article doesn’t really make it clear it’s relating to just motorways it just says they are to be “tried” on the motorway’s + there are traffic lights on motorways if you are including certain slip roads as part of the motorway network.
Non of the firms Ive worked for over the years were organised enough to get a truck somewhere on time never mind plan em to meet on the motorway so they can platoon lol or are they suggesting that you just tuck up behind some random truck an engage auto? No thanks
SouthEastCashew:
muckles:
SouthEastCashew:
Country is a joke… constantly trying to run before they can walk… what happens when you come up to a set of lights… by the time the 3rd trailer has crossed you know it’s going straight back to red so other road users are going to throw their toys out the pram…Which traffic lights on the UK’s Motorway network would these be?
Article doesn’t really make it clear it’s relating to just motorways it just says they are to be “tried” on the motorway’s + there are traffic lights on motorways if you are including certain slip roads as part of the motorway network.
Well the article does mention motorways a lot, but I suppose you could read it as trailed on motorways as used on all roads.
The trucks all have drivers, the platooning only happens on certain sections of motorway where they can link the truck and travel close together, which as they’re supposed to increase the distance near junctions won’t be much of the UK’s network. Once the vehicles head for the slip roads they become individually driven trucks again, so they won’t all be going through the lights.
I believe there are many issues, but not so much with the technology, but with the human interaction with the vehicles, both from the drivers in the trucks and those around the trucks.
muckles:
SouthEastCashew:
muckles:
SouthEastCashew:
Country is a joke… constantly trying to run before they can walk… what happens when you come up to a set of lights… by the time the 3rd trailer has crossed you know it’s going straight back to red so other road users are going to throw their toys out the pram…Which traffic lights on the UK’s Motorway network would these be?
Article doesn’t really make it clear it’s relating to just motorways it just says they are to be “tried” on the motorway’s + there are traffic lights on motorways if you are including certain slip roads as part of the motorway network.
Well the article does mention motorways a lot, but I suppose you could read it as trailed on motorways as used on all roads.
The trucks all have drivers, the platooning only happens on certain sections of motorway where they can link the truck and travel close together, which as they’re supposed to increase the distance near junctions won’t be much of the UK’s network. Once the vehicles head for the slip roads they become individually driven trucks again, so they won’t all be going through the lights.I believe there are many issues, but not so much with the technology, but with the human interaction with the vehicles, both from the drivers in the trucks and those around the trucks.
Cheers for making it a bit more clearer… Interesting! 2018 seems a bit to soon don’t you think? DM have a tendency to over complicate their articles 0.O
Plenty of time to sabotage this.
Any chance we could get Dozy to pilot the lead truck ?
switchlogic:
I used to think it was going to be a long way off, until I drove a truck with adaptive cruise control and realized most of the tech is already here
Just a shame the tech doesn’t work. We have adaptive cruise and brake assist on our trucks. Great, until some cockwomble cuts in front of you then brakes hard so they don’t miss their junction. Not to mention the fact that they don’t work when it snows.
The M18 has roadworks (shock horror) where you’re expected to filter over onto the hard shoulder. The white lines have been painted over and you’re supposed to follow the line of reflective studs. Our Lane departure warning system goes nuts when do because it still sees the painted out white lines.
And I have no idea at all how three trucks are going to go from the M18 onto the M1 south, it can be bad enough getting one truck into Lane two, never mind three trucks!
They’re going to test it on a motorway, probably at night when they’re quieter. Good luck finding one with a long enough open stretch for a meaningful test! 
Edit: forgot to say, Highways England are part funding this project. If it’s anything like their other projects, it’ll be years overdue, massively over budget and will need redoing shortly after completion.
Platoons of lorries on the motorways?Brilliant idea!What could possibly go wrong?
Incidentally,would the lead driver be paid more for the extra responsibility?Would he be an experienced and intelligent driver(UK Tramp?)or would he be the guy who volunteers to do it for £5/hour less so he can revel in the glory?
Doesn’t need a meaningful open stretch, will work just as well in traffic. You can only bury your head in the sand for so long, it is coming and coming fast. I use both adaptive cruise control lane assist and all the rest all the time, encountered very few problems myself. You’re just presenting problems that will be solved. No one is claiming everything is perfect and trucks will be driving themselves next year, this is a test, I.e to work out what works and what doesn’t and what needs changing.
switchlogic:
Doesn’t need a meaningful open stretch, will work just as well in traffic. You can only bury your head in the sand for so long, it is coming and coming fast. I use both adaptive cruise control lane assist and all the rest all the time, encountered very few problems myself. You’re just presenting problems that will be solved. No one is claiming everything is perfect and trucks will be driving themselves next year, this is a test, I.e to work out what works and what doesn’t and what needs changing.
In one of the other threads, it was commented on how people are struggling with a part automation systems that are already being put into vehicles, ie not turning headlights on. How am I supposed to believe that a much more complex, part automated, complete driving vehicle will be fine when people can’t even turn their headlights on?
The people who are saying this will work are the people who are trying to sell it.
Captain Caveman 76:
switchlogic:
Doesn’t need a meaningful open stretch, will work just as well in traffic. You can only bury your head in the sand for so long, it is coming and coming fast. I use both adaptive cruise control lane assist and all the rest all the time, encountered very few problems myself. You’re just presenting problems that will be solved. No one is claiming everything is perfect and trucks will be driving themselves next year, this is a test, I.e to work out what works and what doesn’t and what needs changing.In one of the other threads, it was commented on how people are struggling with a part automation systems that are already being put into vehicles, ie not turning headlights on. How am I supposed to believe that a much more complex, part automated, complete driving vehicle will be fine when people can’t even turn their headlights on?
The people who are saying this will work are the people who are trying to sell it.
Because the ultimate aim is to remove the one bit that makes the mistakes you talk of, the human
In some ways i’d like to see fully automated lorries come into use in this country, it’ll be the best laugh we’ve had in decades, the roads would come to complete gridlock, shelves empty, even the emergency services won’t be able to move.
It isn’t going to happen people, and just cos they’re ■■■■■■■ £billions up the wall ‘‘investing’’ in this project means the square root of bugger all, they’ve been investing £billions of our money in the global warming scam to no avail though people have cottoned on finally that it’s all ■■■■■■■■ so the emphasis has now morphed onto killer Diesels, they ‘invested’ £millions or was it £billions (no bugger even bothers to count when they’re spending other people’s…our…money) on that fantastic computer system for the NHS (should be WHS, World Health Service 
) which never actually worked…it’s what these people do, they love ■■■■■■■ other people’s money, just like politicians have always done.
The reason for ■■■■■■■ all this money up the wall on these schemes is this…for the thousands of people involved, it’s a ■■■■■■■ sight more lucrative and beats the hell out of doing a real job for a living.
So we’ve now gone from fully automated lorries sodding off on their own to deliver the nations goods, to basically all the lorry is going to do is follow the one in front whilst on the motorway, smart motorway one presumes, with a steering wheel attendee, which is exactly what happens now
What a complete and utter load of ■■■■■■■■, people are getting huge salaries to come up with half arsed rubbish like this, i’m just amazed any bugger here is actually taken in by it.
switchlogic:
Captain Caveman 76:
switchlogic:
Doesn’t need a meaningful open stretch, will work just as well in traffic. You can only bury your head in the sand for so long, it is coming and coming fast. I use both adaptive cruise control lane assist and all the rest all the time, encountered very few problems myself. You’re just presenting problems that will be solved. No one is claiming everything is perfect and trucks will be driving themselves next year, this is a test, I.e to work out what works and what doesn’t and what needs changing.In one of the other threads, it was commented on how people are struggling with a part automation systems that are already being put into vehicles, ie not turning headlights on. How am I supposed to believe that a much more complex, part automated, complete driving vehicle will be fine when people can’t even turn their headlights on?
The people who are saying this will work are the people who are trying to sell it.
Because the ultimate aim is to remove the one bit that makes the mistakes you talk of, the human
That’s the key point here. Robots work perfectly in a controlled environment, the motorways are anything but controlled. They’re the most unpredictable part of the road network because of all the people. Unless you can take ALL the people out of ALL the vehicles on the motorways, it’ll never work.
switchlogic:
Doesn’t need a meaningful open stretch, will work just as well in traffic. You can only bury your head in the sand for so long, it is coming and coming fast. I use both adaptive cruise control lane assist and all the rest all the time, encountered very few problems myself. You’re just presenting problems that will be solved. No one is claiming everything is perfect and trucks will be driving themselves next year, this is a test, I.e to work out what works and what doesn’t and what needs changing.
Actually for it to work, at least for fuel saving, it does need decent stretches of motorway without junctions, as the convoy will increase the separation distance at junctions to allow other vehicles to exit and enter the motorway, therefore losing the fuel saving benefits of close running.
The Technology required is far more than letting the ACC and AEBS do the work, the trucks will communicate with each other, with the lead truck sending information to the others. The distances they are thinking of operating at are about 12m for what is known as convoying, where the following drivers are still required to have some input, down to maybe 6m for platooning, where the following drivers have no input. Apparently this is far closer than present ACC and AEBS systems can operate at, the one of the truck I normally drive is at about 50m at 80km/h, although it can be set closer.
As I said before the technology isn’t the biggest problem, it’s the human factor, both from those driving the trucks and those around it that presents the most issues. Then there is making the system work commercially, it is envisaged that it’s not going to be a load of trucks from the same company going to the same place, but we’ll drive along the motorway and join and leave a convoy of mixed truck from mixed fleets.
How do you compensate the lead truck for having a lower saving in fuel then the following trucks, when the following trucks aren’t from the same company?
How do you deal with the different capabilities of the mixed trucks in the convoy, is there a point a truck has to leave the convoy as it isn’t capable of staying with the lead truck or does the convoy work run at the speed of the worst performing vehicle?
What happens when you’ve got a truck in the middle of the convoy with poorer braking performance than the lead truck?
These aren’t questions raised by drivers who don’t understand or want the system, but from those involved in the feasibility study for the trails and future use.