'Road trains' get ready to roll' (in EU) - BBC

[nomarandlee]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8349923.stm

'Road trains' get ready to roll

Road trains that link vehicles together using wireless sensors could soon be on European roads.

An EU-financed research project is looking at inexpensive ways of getting vehicles to travel in a 'platoon' on Europe's motorways.

Each road train could include up to eight separate vehicles - cars, buses and trucks will be mixed in each one.

The EU hopes to cut fuel consumption, journey times and congestion by linking vehicles together.

Early work on the idea suggests that fuel consumption could be cut by 20% among those cars and trucks travelling behind the lead vehicle.

Spanish trials

The lead vehicle would be handled by a professional driver who would monitor the status of the road train. Those in following vehicles could take their hands off the wheel, read a book or watch TV, while they travel along the motorway. Their vehicle would be controlled by the lead vehicle.

Funded under the European Commission's Framework 7 research plan, Sartre (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) is aimed at commuters in cars who travel long distances to work every day but will also look at ways to involve commercial vehicles.

Tom Robinson, project co-ordinator at engineering firm Ricardo, said the idea was to use off-the-shelf components to make it possible for cars, buses and trucks to join the road train.

"The goal is to try and introduce a step change in transport methods," he said.

"We're looking at what it would take to get platooning on public highways without making big changes to the public highways themselves," said Mr Robinson.

A system that involved wiring up motorways with sensors to help control the road trains would be prohibitively expensive, he said.

"Each of the vehicles will have their own control and software monitoring system," said Mr Robinson. "There may well be a platoon sensor envelope that collates information and presents it to the lead vehicle so it can understand what is happening around all the vehicles."

The idea is to make platoons active so vehicles can join and leave as they need. Mr Robinson speculated that those joining a platoon or road train may one day pay for the privilege of someone else effectively driving them closer to their destination.

Sartre will run for three years. The project partners are currently doing preliminary research to find out all the elements needed for a working system and the situations in which it might be used.

There were also behavioural elements to consider, said Mr Robinson, such as whether all the vehicles will need to have their hazard lights on while in a platoon.

Also, he said, there had to be a way to ensure the vehicles in a platoon are organised to make drivers feel safe.

"Car drivers do not want to be between trucks," he said.

Towards the end of the research project trials will be held on test tracks in the UK, Spain and Sweden. There are also plans for public road trials in Spain. The first platoon will involve two trucks and three cars.

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[DanielFigFoz]

Sounds like a good idea but for some eason my gut feeling is: Err, no!

[Xusein]

Interesting idea, but it kind of ruins the advantage of taking a car? Wouldn't it be better off strengthening public transport instead?

[FREKI]

^I think the main idea is for lotty drivers to group up on long hauls on the freeway and this would allow them to drive continuesly by taking turns in the lead vehicle instead of having to pull over and relax/sleep as the law demands or use two man crews..


It's not something I can imaging private drivers using - first of all there's no point as the distance needed between small cars before the draft cuts fuel usage is extremely short and there's no chance of that being realistic without active drivers on the current roads - they would need sensors in all roads and a better GPS system than the current

So while it may be the future, it's many many years of for most, but in the trucking industry and maybe in the coach bus services I see options, but the cost contra benefits doesn't make it a smart move IMO - if they want to go down that road they might as well rebuild all the roads and design unmanned vehicles running on alternative energy or posible a third rail..

[mgk920]

When I first saw the title of this thread, I thought that someone was proposing that they start using the same style of extra-extra oversized rigs on European motorways that they use in the Australian outback.





Anyways, I can't help but think of the technical things that would have to be worked out to even begin experimenting with such a scheme.

Mike

[Aan]

I don't think technology is problem, but can't see anywhere explained why would lead driver do that and take responsibility for cars behind him? He won't be doing it for free that's sure. Better way would be to have autonomous cars driven by computers without any driver at all, it's possible with nowadays technology right now on such easy roads as highways.

[ChrisZwolle]

Originally Posted by Aan

Better way would be to have autonomous cars driven by computers without any driver at all, it's possible with nowadays technology right now on such easy roads as highways.

Have you ever read the book "Traffic" by Tom Vanderbilt? He writes about this issue. Today's computerized vehicles are possible to drive alone, but not yet within significant traffic conditions, he writes about a vehicle driving across a desert road. However, a computer cannot make eye-contact with other types of traffic users, such as pedestrians, it cannot see body language, is a person just staying there or does he cross the road/freeway?. Even motorway traffic is too hard, a human can anticipate on weather, pavement conditions and other traffic, a computer can do that to a limited scale. Can a computer see the difference between a rock or a bag on the road?

[Tawny]

How will none Road Train traffic negotiate through a Road train to exit at a junction? That was the first thing that popped in to my head.