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Posted on 03/06/2013 10:14:55 AM PST by null and void
You’ve probably heard some talk of driverless cars, but now a Japanese organization has taken the concept one step further with driverless trucks.
On February 25, the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) demonstrated new technologies that can control the steering and speeds of unmanned trucks in such a way that they would run in a specific formation.
How the unmanned trucks work
NEDO supplied the trucks with duplexed systems that allow important functions to make this work.
The organization worked on milliwave and infrared laser radars so that the trucks could detect obstacles in front of them. Using cameras and infrared lasers, they can also recognize white lines. The trucks are equipped with a 5.8-GHz wireless communication module and infrared communication module that allow them to communicate with other vehicles.
The team also set up a control unit featuring two printed circuit boards with a fail-safe function to keep track of calculation results.
In the demonstration, held at the North Site of Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), the group ran three autonomous trucks 13 ft. apart at a speed of 50 mph. The trucks followed directly behind a lead truck operated by a human.
What does this have to do with fuel consumption?
NEDO thinks that this new technology can decrease fuel consumption by at least 15%. Their theory springs from the idea that if you keep the trucks running at a constant speed in a straight line and all the same distance apart, then you could take advantage of the slipstream effect, which would decrease drag and significantly reduce fuel consumption. The slipstream effect implies that an object moving behind another object at the same speed will require less power to maintain its speed than if it were moving independently.
Although this sounds exciting, don’t expect to see driverless trucks on the road during your morning commute. NEDO hopes to have a practical version of this automated driving system ready by 2020. The team will engage in more testing later this year.
For a view from the driver's seat of the unmanned trucks, watch the video below.
What could possibly go wrong?
Do they talk to each other on CB ladios?
More likely texting on iPhones, LOL
No worries, they got one of those “...control unit featuring two printed circuit boards with a fail-safe function ...”
..
Throw a baby carriage in front of the lead truck at the last second and see what happens with trucks 3 through 4.....Physics is a bitch....
Just because you CAN do it, doesn’t mean that you SHOULD do it....
Just drive at 90 kph instead of 115.
How many days before these things are hacked? And how long after that before the first traffic accident caused by hacking / malicious software?
Oh, sure, brilliant thinking there. My computer freezes up and all that happens is I yell at it but let a truck’s computer freeze for a couple seconds and you’ve got bodies spilling blood and guts all over the road.
What could possibly go wrong?
Just what I figured after driverless cars were developed. I and 2 million other truck drivers to an unemployment line near you...
Just what I figured after driverless cars were developed. I and 2 million other truck drivers to an unemployment line near you...
“The organization worked on milliwave and infrared laser radars... “
Hmmmm. That makes me wonder what happens if you light one of these trucks up with a Laser Speed Gun. Would it effectively jam the truck’s laser detectors?
Oh, and if the infrared laser on the trucks interfere with the operation of laser speed guns or if the millimeter wave radar interferes with the old style speed guns then these trucks will never make it past the bureaucratic hand wringers.
Maybe it's just me (probably not) but all I get lately when clicking the link at the top of any post is this:
Sorry, an error occurred. The error has been logged.
Okay
"Okay" is a link, but clicking on it just returns me to the article.
“NEDO thinks that this new technology can decrease fuel consumption by at least 15%.”
Agree. Back in the early 80s I had an American car (from the 70s) - back then we didn’t have much choice in cars, I sure as heck would NEVER buy another union-made car, but I digress.
So the car got around 15 MPG on the highway - but one time I was drafting a truck for something like 200 miles, and got the best gas mileage ever in that vehicle - like 18 MPG, so it does work, but you have to keep close. Now, with this system, the vehicles can stay a few feet apart, coordinate their actions and almost be like a train. Very good for Japan, a country without kids that is DESPERATELY trying to avoid the idiocy of other countries by turning into a multi-cultural cesspool.
I assume this means fewer truck driver incomes to tax.
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