EU looking into "road train" technology - a disaster waiting to happen?

Nick 0208 Ldn

Emma Woollacott | Mon 4th Jan 2010

The EU is looking at introducing 'road trains' in Europe to cut fuel consumption and traffic congestion.

The Safe Road Trains for the Environment (Sartre) project envisages road trains consisting of up to eight vehicles - a mix of cars, buses and trucks
.

The vehicles will be equipped with a navigation system and a transmitter/receiver unit that communicates with a lead vehicle driven by a professional. Everybody else could sit back and read the paper, or possibly just wallow in a bit of existential angst.

The Sartre project will run for three years, and will involve trials run in the UK, Spain and Sweden next year.

“I do appreciate that many people feel this sounds like Utopia. However, this type of autonomous driving actually doesn’t require any hocus-pocus technology, and no investment in infrastructure," says Erik Coelingh, technical director of Active Safety Functions at Volvo Cars.

"Instead, the emphasis is on development and on adapting technology that is already in existence. In addition, we must carry out comprehensive testing to verify our high demands on safety.”

The planners say the concept could cut fuel consumption by up to 20 percent, thanks to lower air drag.

EU launches road train project | TG Daily - Technology, Science, Entertainment, and Business News



I don't drive myself but if i did i'd give them a wider berth i think. In terms of joining and being nearby.

I hope to find a better article later for the BBC just did a report on it, only no piece published as yet.

Alex

Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen

Nistelrooy10

Are they like trolley cars or something else?

Nick 0208 Ldn

Something else.

These are actual cars independent of each other that on a motorway form a wireless link. A lead vehicle will control all those following it and the drivers of which will be able to do other things. Cars or lorries negotiate their way on and off of this "train".

Nistelrooy10

Nick 0208 Ldn

You can readily enough imagine the dangers as well, to those participating and those in and around them on a road.

In keeping with the mindset of the EU though, one size fits all and people more akin to drones or robots under the control of a domineering authority.

Nistelrooy10

I think it's going to be a failure. Something will fail, software, gps signal, mechanical failure, something will go wrong. I can see it happen eventually, but not any time soon.

Found this:

askabob

Also, it would be hard to sync the cars due to the fact that they are all different. A bend on a road would require a certain rotation on the steering wheel of one car and a different one on a bus. With future technology it might be possible - 50 years?

Nick 0208 Ldn

What about if a car outside of the train loses control and is on a collision course with this convoy, or a lorry in the train encounters a problem at 50mph? The means for a person to react as fast as possible and independently having been removed, is bound to case a serious accident.

nickm

Why not just look at it on the basis of the technology? Sounds like an interesting idea to me.

peterstorey

If people wanted to travel in a train, they'd travel by train.

nickm

50 years? You could do it in 5. The tech is here now: a combination of autonomous vehicles, GPS, wireless links, inertial and roadside sensors and so on. The problem is redundancy - you couldn't rely on one method of positioning alone.

Nick 0208 Ldn

The prospect of road traffic accidents amuses you?

If you meant the second bit it wasn't really an argument, just a mild albeit accurate aside.

PJ

I'm not into that carbon saving bullshit, but I assume the EU are, so would it not be more efficient if the people just, i don't know, say, sat on the bus itself, rather than behind it in a death trap?

WeasteDevil

50 years? How about yesterday? It's technically quite feasible (realistically right now not so much, but not due to the technology behind it), each different type of car would have its own software to enable it to react to some form of standard comms and behavioural protocol. The expensive thing is that you couldn't just have one system, one set of sensors, or a single electrical system, because if one breaks, then the whole thing would fall apart leading to massive crashes. So, they would have to go down the route that they have with avionics where many systems are duplicated, and many systems "vote" on the action to take. The cost is probably prohibitive, but law can solve that.

Wibble

It can't be less safe than interacting with the utter fuckwits that drive near me on a daily basis.

R_Nick

Surely interacting with the utter fuckwits whilst you are not actually in control of your car and able to avoid them is worse?

lynchie

I would think that once a significant proportion of motorway traffic was using these, the number of accidents would drop. I'd much prefer it if knackered drivers joined a road train and had a kip, than have them turn up the radio, wind down the window and hope.

The technology is certainly not beyond us. It could work fairly easily, although rolling it out would be a bit tricky, especially at the very start.

lynchie

I like the idea that if someone has a blowout or a skid in the lane next to you, you'd skillfully maneuver out of the way at 70mph in James Bond style.

Wibble

Safer probably.