Driverless Lorries

[Raybosailor]

I don't scare easy but the subject of driverless lorries makes me shudder, we have already seen major incidents on the railways of Europe where fail safe devices have allowed trains to carry on past an automatic braking point.

Driving an HGV of 20 tons or more is a skill that has to be learned and no two payloads are the same, but what really makes a good driver is reading the road and driving conditions in front of you.

How is a driverless lorry going to anticipate the tree falling on to the road in high winds and will it see the rows of brake lights half a mile up the motorway.

I don't only drive my own vehicle but I anticipate the actions of other drivers, and often change lane because I know the idiot in the nearside lane has got themselves trapped behind a slower moving vehicle and will almost always pull out without warning. Will a computerised vehicle have these skills ? I don't think so and for this reason alone I think it is a bad idea.

Lets face it we sometimes can't get a good signal from Sky in heavy snow so how is a signal to a lorry going to avoid a collision in heavy snow, rain or fog.

[GillD46]

I share your concern, Ray.

[towny44]

I thought we already had them the other day when I spotted an HGV driver with the morning paper over his stearing wheel and his head down engrossed in reading it.

[Silver_Shiney]

This proposal is yet another lurch down the road to insanity

[Stephen]

Can't see it happening myself, at least not in my life time......hopefully

[Boris+]

ANY vehicle is a lethal weapon. Whether it is intended to be a lethal weapon or not whilst being used is beside the point - accidents can and do happen.

There are some things which I will entrust to a machine, but I think this is one step too far. I particularly didn't like the cavalier posing of the person in the clip shown on tv where the 'driver' nonchalantly moved his seat around to sit sideways on. In the time that it would take a driver to (1) notice a situation requiring avoiding action, (2) move the seat back around to face forwards, then (3) grab the controls and take the avoiding action ......... that could all (depending on the speed at the time, of course) cause death.

What will put the tin lid on this daft fiasco maybe is if a situation arose in somewhere which has a high occurrence of legal action being taken to sue the responsible parties (or irresponsible in this case I think), with a high amount of damages involved and CEOs of relevant companies being jailed - then maybe in the UK we'd wake up and smell the coffee and realise just how stupid this idea is.

Remember, even doing this in a lightweight slow car is bad enough - but a lorry capable of carrying a 20t load and travelling at speed is just too much to think about.

[oldbluefox]

Considering some of the muppets driving on our roads nowadays (some of them supposedly 'professional' drivers) it may be a safer option.
How viable remains to be seen. They are reportedly travelling in convoy so what happens when one convoy decides to overtake another? What happens when they come to a roundabout and need to filter into traffic? What happens when a convoy is trying to filter onto a busy motorway? It's scary enough as it is when lorries decide to move out with little warning when you are already overtaking but imagine a convoy suddenly moving over, especially if there is already somebody in the outside lane and nowhere to go. I remain to be convinced.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Here's an idea. I understand these lorries are designed to work in convoys of mulitiple vehicles all heading along the same route, driving close together for economy with a human driver in the front one setting the speed and direction of the whole thing.

So let's actually couple them together so you only need one motor unit. For reduced friction and further improved economy we could run them on steel wheels on smooth tracks. We could call them railways.

That would reduce the amount of goods traffic on the roads improving the experience for all.

Revolutionary idea or what?

[oldbluefox]

Cracking idea Mervyn. Do you think it will latch on?

[towny44]

Cracking idea Mervyn. Do you think it will latch on?

You two are using far too much common sense, the MOT will never sanction your suggestion!!!

[qbman1]

Can't see it happening myself, at least not in my life time......hopefully

It certainly won't be in your lifetime if you brake suddenly in front of one !!

[Frank Manning]

These new fangled railway thingummies you have invented will never get off the ground (that would be flying anyway!!), because of the Tory Road Transport lobby. Remember Marples??

[Silver_Shiney]

Here's an idea. I understand these lorries are designed to work in convoys of mulitiple vehicles all heading along the same route, driving close together for economy with a human driver in the front one setting the speed and direction of the whole thing.

So let's actually couple them together so you only need one motor unit. For reduced friction and further improved economy we could run them on steel wheels on smooth tracks. We could call them railways.

That would reduce the amount of goods traffic on the roads improving the experience for all.

Revolutionary idea or what?

I was going to say something very similar, pointing out that we used to have something in place years ago that would run goods close to the points of use, until that nice Dr Beeching came along and axed much of the branch line network. Thanks, doc....

[Raybosailor]

Here's an idea. I understand these lorries are designed to work in convoys of mulitiple vehicles all heading along the same route, driving close together for economy with a human driver in the front one setting the speed and direction of the whole thing.

So let's actually couple them together so you only need one motor unit. For reduced friction and further improved economy we could run them on steel wheels on smooth tracks. We could call them railways.

That would reduce the amount of goods traffic on the roads improving the experience for all.

Revolutionary idea or what?

I was going to say something very similar, pointing out that we used to have something in place years ago that would run goods close to the points of use, until that nice Dr Beeching came along and axed much of the branch line network. Thanks, doc....

[Silver_Shiney]

Your comments seem to have disappeared, Ray...

Unless the vehicle is on its own unique route that can't be transgressed by anything else, something in sole control of a computer is a bad idea. No doubt such a vehicle will be connected to the Internet in some way and can therefore be hacked into.

[Mervyn and Trish]

It's that moment when someone steers into the path of the driverless lorry and the computer flashes up that message "a fatal error has occured"

[qbman1]

Your comments seem to have disappeared, Ray...

We seem to have been "ModPlodded" !!

[Silver_Shiney]

Your comments seem to have disappeared, Ray...

We seem to have been "ModPlodded" !!

In which case, shouldn't the whole post have disappeared, including what I was quoted as saying?

[qbman1]

Who knows? Those ModPlods have mystical powers !

[Silver_Shiney]

speaking of which, where's the Smurfmeister these days?

Given that it takes a lot of money and time to train a lorry driver, I don't suppose the bright spark behind this driverless nonsense has given any thought to the social cost in unemployment increases?

[oldbluefox]

Your comments seem to have disappeared, Ray...

Rest assured, none of Ray's posts have been deleted. I can't speak for any of the twaddlemeisters' posts though.

[qbman1]

First Assistant Twaddlemeister reporting for duty, Sah