Thread: Autonomous Vehicles

I think driverless trucks should be a priority before cars.
I think driverless trains should be a priority before trucks.
Can you imagine, at the train platform, as soon as one train leaves, another arrives. They would be able to put so many more services on a line. It would go some way towards solving the overcrowding issue.
Melbourne train commuters increasingly squeezed onto overcrowded carriages - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

I think driverless trucks should be a priority before cars.
I think driverless trains should be a priority before trucks.
Can you imagine, at the train platform, as soon as one train leaves, another arrives. They would be able to put so many more services on a line. It would go some way towards solving the overcrowding issue.
Melbourne train commuters increasingly squeezed onto overcrowded carriages - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Absolutely. Driverless trains are becoming common in a lot of areas around the world, but as always with public transport in Australia, we are a third world nation when it comes to these things. It will be 20 years at least before they look at this.

Originally Posted by Homestar

Absolutely. Driverless trains are becoming common in a lot of areas around the world, but as always with public transport in Australia, we are a third world nation when it comes to these things. It will be 20 years at least before they look at this.

If autonomous public transport is unachievable, I have no faith they will achieve autonomous cars.
I would love to have an autonomous car. I'd love to sleep in the back seat whilst it drives me to work.

Originally Posted by PhilipA

So does this mean that we can look forward to trucks that don't sit 1 metre from your rear bumper at 110kmh?
Does it mean trucks not travelling in convoy then overtaking at slow speeds on hills?
I fear that after atrial they will be seen to be too slow in Oz after one follows a caravan at 70-80kmh from Sydney to Brisbane and arrives an hour or two later than the normal aggressively driven truck.

If the above I am all for it.
Regards Philip A

Yep,lets lay all the blame on truck drivers . Pat

Originally Posted by Homestar

I would think the industry would jump at the chance. No drivers means no breaks, no driver changeovers, etc. Can you imagine a trucking company that could turn a truck loose from thier depot in Melbourne or Sydney and have it travel non stop to Perth, then in the time it takes to swap its trailers over and refuel it, send it back?

The savings on wages, driver abuse of the truck, etc would be way more than the couple of hours saved by a renegade driver pedalling too hard.

I can't wait to share the road with oncoming 40+ tonne driverless trucks doing 100km/hr. My navman can't even get me to Perth without getting lost . Pat

Driverless trucks?
That's going to take all the fun out of UHF channel 40!

Also, out here at least, seeing the truck drivers every week is a bit of a social event. Chance to have a whinge about how hot it is, how suppliers never have the stuff ready on time & so on.

I like having my truck drivers turn up, phone me if they are running late, grab me some KFC to bring up, give me the road conditions & tell each other we're nuts.

Also nice to have the drivers call you up on the long drive home & tell you it's safe to overtake.

Long live the Truck Drivers!
Most of them anyway.

Jonesfam

Railway lines are a much more controlled environment than roads, so wouldn't driverless trains be a lot easier to achieve? There are already driverless coal trains.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Railway lines are a much more controlled environment than roads,

Yes.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

so wouldn't driverless trains be a lot easier to achieve?

One would think so.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

There are already driverless coal trains.

Why don't we have driverless commuter trains on the suburban network? I would have thought it would be so much more achievable and so much more of an impact on our society. We need to get our priorities right.