18-wheeler robot juggernaut hits Nevada's highways. Cower, fleshies! American truck maker Freightliner has premiered its first robot big rig, and it has already received a road license plate for a computer-controlled 18-wheeler on public highways. The Freightliner Inspiration Truck operates on a system called Highway Pilot, an automated cruise control setting which is intended to allow the …
Why does the lorry need cameras to read the speed limit signs? Lorries only know two speeds: Stop and 56MPH. I've never seen a lorry do 50MPH in a 50MPH zone in the UK.
Yes, I've had lorries intimidate me because I dared to do the speed limit. This intimidation including ramming my car. Were the Police interested? Like f**k they were.
Are there any lorry drivers who know what 50MPH is, as I've yet to meet them on the UK roads.
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"Hint: Maybe your speedo is telling you a different number to theirs?"
And? Many of of those driving HGVs appear to be dogf*ckers who need to read the highway code, or go back to carpet rolling and body stuffing school if they don't understand that it isn't the job of the driver in front to drive at a speed that suits the cretin in the truck behind.
Hint Two: Your speedo is deliberately designed to read HIGHER than you are actually going...
Some are, some aren't, and truck speedos are generally no more accurate than cars (I used to work for a major truck manufacturer). Either way doesn't alter the problem with some cretins who don't understand that a speed limit is (excepting rare circumstances) a maximum, not a minimum.
"It is only a small step for a large operator (e.g. Stobart in UK) to automate the long distance route between large depots - the boring bit - and just have drivers at the endpoints or "loaders" as they will become."
I think George Stevenson beat you to that idea!
(and there's already a Stobart Rail and Stobart Air)
If you want that demonstration, just rent (or find some other pretext) any high-end Mercedes, Audi or BMW. They all have 'adaptive cruise control' (or whatever that feature's called in the corresponding marketeer's lingo). What happens simply is that the cruise control will readjust the distance to whatever has appeared in its front radar detector, usually without applying the brakes (if the safety system does need to apply the brakes, just hold on to your hat, though...).
Pretty annoying, though, if the sensor has been turned so it aims to the left (or, on your island, right) lane next to you, so that every passing car triggers your car to decelerate....
1 in 8 of those driver-fault accidents due to fatigue? I think he means about 4 in 8.
Here in the U.S, after the Capitalist Republican deregulation ["regulations cost jobs!"] of the trucking industry, I think the only remaining regulation is something like drivers must rest at least 4 hours for every 17,236 hours spent driving.
The other 4 in 8 is due to them going too fast trying to meet absurd schedules ["L.A. to Chicago in 12 hours, sure!"] because Time Is Money (screw safety)
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