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BTW, we can make driverless trucks? I keep hearing the same thing about flying cars. For about half a century now, without anything substantial to show for it.

DanBC 11y ago
Volvo have been trialing driverless trucks for some time now. http://www.volvogroup.com/group/global/en-gb/_layouts/CWP.Internet.VolvoCom/NewsItem.aspx?News.ItemId=109685&News.Language=en-gb http://www.volvogroup.com/group/global/en-gb/_layouts/CWP.In... >Volvo’s vision of combining a well-trained professional driver with increased automation is being realized through the SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) project. The idea behind the project – of which Volvo is a part through its centre for research and innovation, Volvo Technology – is to develop a technology for vehicle platooning – that is, a convoy where a professional driver in a lead vehicle drives a line of other vehicles. Each vehicle in the convoy measures the distance, speed and direction to the car in front, and adjusts accordingly. The vehicles are not physically attached to each other and can leave the procession at any time. But once in the platoon, the following drivers can relax and do other things while the platoon proceeds towards its destination under the expert guidance of the lead driver. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/autonomous-vehicles-how-safe-are-trucks-without-human-drivers-9047546.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/fea... > In 2012, Volvo Trucks tried out its autonomous vehicles on public roads for the first time, as part of the European Commission-backed Project Sartre (Safe Road Trains for the Environment), which looked at the feasibility of platooning – when a single, lead driver in a truck, using what might be thought of as a kind of digital towbar, controls the speed, steering and braking of two or more trucks or cars, to form a road train. > Now, the EC has just announced the €5.4m (£4.55m) Project Companion, led by Scania, to develop the technology further and explore the legislative changes necessary for this kind of automated road train to run on motorways such as our own M4. So while talk of Amazon's delivery drones have caught the headlines, autonomous trucks may be doing precisely that in about 10 years' time, if the law catches up with the technology. Video from 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV3nINN2ELQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV3nINN2ELQ
- Piskvorrr 11y ago
  I'm aware of this. What I'm trying to say is that there's a lot of uncertainties and risks in this branch of the tech tree. Just like flying cars, having a prototype here and there does not make this mass usage.
nefitty 11y ago
http://www.wired.com/2015/05/worlds-first-self-driving-semi-truck-hits-road/ http://www.wired.com/2015/05/worlds-first-self-driving-semi-... (Sorry it's Wired...)

DanBC 11y ago

Volvo have been trialing driverless trucks for some time now. http://www.volvogroup.com/group/global/en-gb/_layouts/CWP.Internet.VolvoCom/NewsItem.aspx?News.ItemId=109685&News.Language=en-gb http://www.volvogroup.com/group/global/en-gb/_layouts/CWP.In... >Volvo’s vision of combining a well-trained professional driver with increased automation is being realized through the SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) project. The idea behind the project – of which Volvo is a part through its centre for research and innovation, Volvo Technology – is to develop a technology for vehicle platooning – that is, a convoy where a professional driver in a lead vehicle drives a line of other vehicles. Each vehicle in the convoy measures the distance, speed and direction to the car in front, and adjusts accordingly. The vehicles are not physically attached to each other and can leave the procession at any time. But once in the platoon, the following drivers can relax and do other things while the platoon proceeds towards its destination under the expert guidance of the lead driver. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/autonomous-vehicles-how-safe-are-trucks-without-human-drivers-9047546.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/fea... > In 2012, Volvo Trucks tried out its autonomous vehicles on public roads for the first time, as part of the European Commission-backed Project Sartre (Safe Road Trains for the Environment), which looked at the feasibility of platooning – when a single, lead driver in a truck, using what might be thought of as a kind of digital towbar, controls the speed, steering and braking of two or more trucks or cars, to form a road train. > Now, the EC has just announced the €5.4m (£4.55m) Project Companion, led by Scania, to develop the technology further and explore the legislative changes necessary for this kind of automated road train to run on motorways such as our own M4. So while talk of Amazon's delivery drones have caught the headlines, autonomous trucks may be doing precisely that in about 10 years' time, if the law catches up with the technology. Video from 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV3nINN2ELQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV3nINN2ELQ

Piskvorrr 11y ago
I'm aware of this. What I'm trying to say is that there's a lot of uncertainties and risks in this branch of the tech tree. Just like flying cars, having a prototype here and there does not make this mass usage.

nefitty 11y ago

http://www.wired.com/2015/05/worlds-first-self-driving-semi-truck-hits-road/ http://www.wired.com/2015/05/worlds-first-self-driving-semi-... (Sorry it's Wired...)