Road Trains - would you? : Wed May 30, 2012 12:38 pm  

Would you be happy to abandon the controls of your car on the motorway, and rely on a wireless connection to a "master" lead vehicle, with your car as one of a convoy of "slaves", mimicking exactly the lead vehicle's actions? Of course, maybe if you're born in 2112 you'd possibly take this entirely for granted, and possibly the concept of "self drive" might have become a footnote in history, so the question is perhaps a bit unfair. And of course for years we've already had unmanned trains etc., none of which have yet crashed. OTOH the most widespread use of unmanned vehicles is of course pleasure rides, and plenty of them do come to grief, albeit very few in percentage terms. But I get on a rollercoaster FOR the 'fear factpr' - knowing it's really safe doesn't seem to affect the automatic physical thrill reaction"; I'm not sure I want that on a 2 hour run from Yorkshire to London! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18248841 "The eventual aim of the project is to have lots of cars "slaved" to a lead vehicle and travelling at high speed along specific routes on motorways." You'd think that, sooner or later, there is bound to be a high speed multiple vehicle pile up. Is that safe bet a reason against? A very interesting concept, and very clever too as it requires zero hardware fitted to the roads. But I'm wondering if the risks are too great? And if you want people to be compelled to travel in some sort of a train - why not make them board an actual, say, train?

Would you be happy to abandon the controls of your car on the motorway, and rely on a wireless connection to a "master" lead vehicle, with your car as one of a convoy of "slaves", mimicking exactly the lead vehicle's actions? Of course, maybe if you're born in 2112 you'd possibly take this entirely for granted, and possibly the concept of "self drive" might have become a footnote in history, so the question is perhaps a bit unfair. And of course for years we've already had unmanned trains etc., none of which have yet crashed. OTOH the most widespread use of unmanned vehicles is of course pleasure rides, and plenty of them do come to grief, albeit very few in percentage terms. But I get on a rollercoaster FOR the 'fear factpr' - knowing it's really safe doesn't seem to affect the automatic physical thrill reaction"; I'm not sure I want that on a 2 hour run from Yorkshire to London! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18248841 "The eventual aim of the project is to have lots of cars "slaved" to a lead vehicle and travelling at high speed along specific routes on motorways." You'd think that, sooner or later, there is bound to be a high speed multiple vehicle pile up. Is that safe bet a reason against? A very interesting concept, and very clever too as it requires zero hardware fitted to the roads. But I'm wondering if the risks are too great? And if you want people to be compelled to travel in some sort of a train - why not make them board an actual, say, train?

Re: Road Trains - would you? : Wed May 30, 2012 12:51 pm  

I would. To bring in such a system it would have to be proven to be safe and presumably would have to operate in a different real estate to non-slave drivers, otherwise their actions would cause chaos? In the example they show, the 19 foot gap is easily enough distance for a knob in an Audi to cut in, breaking the chain. They don't mention what happens when someone interrupts the chain of vehicles whilst one of those in it is 'working on their laptop' or 'enjoying a relaxed lunch'. How would a car disconnect from the chain? For example does the chain know you want to leave at Junction 19 or do you have to manually exit it? How does the rest of the chain then reassemble?

There is also the question of who the lead driver is. Are they going to have unmaned cars leading these lines, or just the first human driver? If so, what happens when they commit suicide? Does the chain spot this stupidity and readjust or do you get a lemmings situation where they all pile into the same concrete wall?

Re: Road Trains - would you? : Wed May 30, 2012 12:53 pm  

As it stands now, I can't see people liking this idea very much.

For instance, any Tom, Dick or Harry can have a few lessons in a car and as long as they pass a competency exam, they can drive a car wherever they want. As with any test, the person taking it may be great at exams, but in practical terms, be rubbish at what they're actually doing. The result is a load of crap drivers on the road, but everyone feels safe because it is THEM in control of the vehicle.

Compare this to flying a plane. Take a holiday to Tenerife, and you'll be transported there by someone who has studied and trained for years to be the very best at what he does. And he really is, because you're far less likely to die in a plane crash than you are a car crash. Yet people feel unsafe. Why? Because they're not in control.

I mean lets face it, you feel less safe in a car when someone else is sat next to you driving it, so what chance does an automated vehicle have of people trusting it?

Re: Road Trains - would you? : Wed May 30, 2012 1:19 pm  

ROBINSON wrote:

...you're far less likely to die in a plane crash than you are a car crash. ..

Or not. The "per hour" death rate of driving is broadly about equal to that of flying!

Re: Road Trains - would you? : Wed May 30, 2012 1:37 pm  

ROBINSON wrote:

Compare this to flying a plane. Take a holiday to Tenerife, and you'll be transported there by someone who has studied and trained for years to be the very best at what he does. And he really is, because you're far less likely to die in a plane crash than you are a car crash. Yet people feel unsafe. Why? Because they're not in control.

I think it might have more to do with the fact that they're several thousand feet up in the air than their lack of control. I don't imagine most of those who are scared of flying would feel the same anxiety about being the passenger in a car, for example.

Re: Road Trains - would you? : Wed May 30, 2012 2:04 pm  

ROBINSON wrote:

For instance, any Tom, Dick or Harry can have a few lessons in a car and as long as they pass a competency exam, they can drive a car wherever they want.

Yes, but it's not going to be just any old Tom, Dick or Harry leading the chain, it'll be a bloke doing a qualified job.

Otherwise it'll be me driving around Hull every Sunday and taking all the FC fans to Craven Park.

[DaveO]

Re: Road Trains - would you? : Wed May 30, 2012 2:31 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

"The eventual aim of the project is to have lots of cars "slaved" to a lead vehicle and travelling at high speed along specific routes on motorways."

You'd think that, sooner or later, there is bound to be a high speed multiple vehicle pile up. Is that safe bet a reason against? A very interesting concept, and very clever too as it requires zero hardware fitted to the roads. But I'm wondering if the risks are too great?

If the idea is you could have this running at 90mph or some such higher speed because its safe like this my concern would not be with the technology of the road train but the fact you are just as much at the mercy of other road users idiocy in one of these road trains as you are today except any accident caused by others would be at higher speed.

Re: Road Trains - would you? : Wed May 30, 2012 2:34 pm  

I don't see it working. It's bad enough sitting in a queue of traffic hoping for someone to cut in so you can have a change of scenery as it is..

I'd also think that it would only take one screw up and the whole thing will lose any credibilty.

Re: Road Trains - would you? : Wed May 30, 2012 4:02 pm  

Scooter Nik wrote:

I don't see it working.

You see this kind of attitude is just the modern generation doing the whole 'the world isn't round, stop being daft, I'm not going to the new world, I'll fall off' thing.

As I've said above, there are so many unanswered questions about it at the moment that it's pretty difficult to form a judgement. But if it meant motorway travel was 80mph and 100% safe, I'd do it. I could play football manager or eat my breakfast whilst driving to work? Sign me up.

Re: Road Trains - would you? : Wed May 30, 2012 4:20 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

You see this kind of attitude is just the modern generation doing the whole 'the world isn't round, stop being daft, I'm not going to the new world, I'll fall off' thing.

As I've said above, there are so many unanswered questions about it at the moment that it's pretty difficult to form a judgement. But if it meant motorway travel was 80mph and 100% safe, I'd do it. I could play football manager or eat my breakfast whilst driving to work? Sign me up.

This. (Except for the Football Manager bit, I'd be reading).

At least it would remove the problem of all the onanists that I currently see erratically slowing-down, speeding-up, braking sharply & late and wandering around all over the place without signalling because they are concentrating on their phone call instead of driving.