How can one person drive two trucks at the same time?

In 2018, the roads of Norway began to driveVolvo's truck with no driver inside - the huge machine was completely entrusted with the computer. He successfully transported the limestone mined at the mine to the port with a cargo ship, but if the company used two autonomous trucks at once, transportation would be carried out much faster. Unfortunately, due to the high risk of an accident, the company has not yet decided to release several unmanned vehicles onto the roads at once. But why shouldn't she and other companies give one driver the ability to drive several trucks at once? After all, this technology already exists.

The technology is called Automated Follow, and itsThe developer is the American company Peloton. We already wrote about her in 2014 - then she introduced a system that allowed autonomous trucks to follow a man-driven truck, while maintaining a 10-meter distance between them. At that time, the technology was imperfect, because it only regulated the speed, and the drivers who were sitting behind the wheel were responsible for the turns. Now, after as many as 5 years, the system has learned to turn on its own.

Autonomous truck

Thanks to the Automated Follow system, the driverone truck is able to drive a whole convoy of huge cars. The essence of the technology lies in the fact that the vehicles following the main truck use their sensors to completely repeat the maneuvers of their leader. When driving, they keep a distance and make turns, and when the head car driver presses the brake pedal, they obediently stop. It sounds interesting, but there is a question - how will the autopilot behave if any car squeezes between trucks? And how will the other participants in the movement know that all the cars in the column strictly repeat the movements first?

Thanks to Automated Follow, trucks can keep their distance

The company is currently testing technology.only on two trucks, but in the future in this way it will be possible to manage whole columns. Besides the fact that the use of several trucks allows you to quickly transport goods, this approach significantly saves fuel. The fact is that when driving with wind resistance only the main truck collides, and the cars moving behind it are practically not affected by the oncoming traffic. Due to reduced load, they can save from 7 to 10% of fuel.

This is also interesting: What is wrong with the autonomous truck from Studio Lebedev?

Tesla truck

I wonder if you heard about this technology Ilon Musk? His electric truck Tesla Semi is still under development, but in 2020 it should go on sale. However, this approach is hardly interesting for Tesla, because it is engaged in the development of an autonomous driving system. It seems that it will be so reliable that it will become the main feature of the taxi service from Ilona Mask. Just imagine - you ordered a taxi, and a car came to you without a driver. Sounds interesting, but is it safe?

Would you trust your life to a computer-controlled car? Share your opinion in the comments, or in our Telegram-chat.