20 ms·

I saw a cool truck today

472 points by williamsmj 4y ago

lnxg33k1 4y ago
Trucks are not allowed also in my hometown in Italy, and it’s not enforced as people tend to let them work expecting common sense based decisions, but a couple of years ago a truck driver just lacked that and tried to go through a very narrow old street blocking the center for hours and got his license revoked and the truck taken, so I guess everyone just be careful
- hnbear 4y ago
  Lots and lots of stories here in the UK about trucks following GPS directions meant for cars and getting stuck, damaging buildings in small towns or both. Eg https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-10809733 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-10809733
atty 4y ago
Cool trucks, but if one of the concerns is weight, I can’t imagine a BEV truck with any decent range is gonna have appreciably better weight/axle. But perhaps I’m overestimating how much battery they’d need.
- djvdq 4y ago
  It's meant for cities. It don't have to have thousands of km in range. But as I read for Volta Zero they promises 150-200 km od range with ~9 tonnes payload (but they want also 16-ton variant). For city driving looks okay for me.
  - GayforMoleman 4y ago
    Not to mention the idea is to reduce inner city pollution and noise pollution levels. Current trucks are despised in cities for this. It’s worth sacrificing on some other aspects to achieve that.
    - dylan604 4y ago
      It's worth it to you to trade distance for clean/quiet, but it's the companies involved using the trucks that need to be convinced. Telling them that they need to have separate trucks for city use and long haul use will receive push back from sheer momentum of how it's done now. Unless the cities get involved and tax the bejeebus out of them for not switching, they will never switch.
      - nine_k 4y ago
        They already often have very large trucks that only go to warehouses, and would be a pain to drive through a city, especially such an old and super-dense one as NYC. Smaller trucks move smaller quantities around the city from the warehouses. Maybe sometimes you need to bring something especially large e.g. for a construction; such deliveries may be special-cased and planned carefully, instead of being completely off-limits.
      - Scarblac 4y ago
        It's not the companies that need to be convinced, it's a matter of the people wanting this enough that politicians act on it or get voted out, and then companies are just forced to follow the regulations that require such trucks. The US is a democracy that doesn't act like one.
    - mellavora 4y ago
      > noise pollution levels. except for that damn backup "beep beep". Yes, I know the arguments for safety, and few of them are based on studies which show safety improvements esp vs other options, like backup cameras. Or if the beep only signaled if there was an obstruction behind the truck. That would be a great use for computer vision. Someone standing behind the truck (or even just something which might be a person)? Beep. Otherwise, keep quiet. An alarm which is false 10x more than it is true is not an alarm.
      - omegabravo 4y ago
        The beep isn't for the driver. I don't want it to beep after I step out behind it, I want it to beep before. Despite that, there is an alternative which sounds more like a hiss. The main benefit is that you can identify the direction from your hearing. I have to look in all directions to find where the beep is coming from. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa28lIGuxq8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa28lIGuxq8
- jillesvangurp 4y ago
  Battery electric trucks exist in pretty much any weight class you can think off. This stopped being a theoretical thing about a decade ago. The main issue is cost and even that is starting to look really good. For last mile deliveries in cities it's pretty much game over for ICE vehicles. Electrical vans are selling as fast as they can be produced. They are cheaper to operate, cleaner to drive, more comfortable (no vibrations, quiet), etc. and they get the job done. Range is fine too. 300-500 miles is plenty for a long distance truck doing 50-60 miles per hour. There are several manufacturers selling battery electrical class 8 trucks now. It will take a while for those to get common of course and for charging infrastructure to ramp up (these things need some serious amounts of juice). They have their required 45 minute break every few hours in any case. Great opportunity to charge the vehicle. Range anxiety for commercial vehicles is not a thing. You might have personal anxiety but it's an entirely predictable thing that you can plan and budget for from a business point of view. It either is good/affordable enough and adequate or it is not. In fact, it seems the low range delivery vans are popular because they are more cost effective and more efficient (less unneeded dead battery weight). Why spend the extra money on range you don't need? It seems the sweet spot is around 100 miles range. Some vans do even less than that. But it's more than the average delivery van does in a day apparently. Longer range options are available. Anxiety does not factor into this. It's a simple matter of "do we spend the 10-20k extra and is it worth it?"
Gigachad 4y ago
I'm surprised. This is a cool truck. Trucks hardly get any mention in safety discussions but seeing the visibility differences here its quite astounding how much they were able to improve it. I wonder if it would make sense to mandate new ICE trucks to have the engine positioned behind the cab rather than under it to get these same improvements on non electric trucks.
- WilTimSon 4y ago
  I was worried it'd be about that Tesla Cybertruck but was pleasantly surprised as well. The added visibility is genuinely smart design that will, hopefully, save lives. Not sure how viable these could be for long hauls but if they're for city use only, I'm very excited.
- joering2 4y ago
  Such a relief comparing it with Musk idea of "daisy-chained" Tesla Semis going down the highway in an autopilot, delivering cargo at "10% of train's cost"
  - porphyra 4y ago
    For what it's worth, the Tesla Semi also has much better visibility than conventional semi trucks.
    - joering2 4y ago
      how do you know this?
  - atoav 4y ago
    Does it factor in road maintenance or is it socialized cost as usual?
    - warmwaffles 4y ago
      > Does it factor in road maintenance or is it socialized cost as usual? It most likely does not factor in road maintenance, and the railroad doesn't factor in their maintenance either.
GayforMoleman 4y ago
I recently visited NYC and I can’t help but feel the city has a wide culture of laissez faire unenforcement. So many grocery and convenience stores in the city have no posted prices for any items, even in the airport. As a foreigner I was pretty shocked but the people I talked to said it was pretty much normal and there’s nothing really that can be done. Mind you we checked and it is actually not legal to have no visible pricing. I’m not sure what it is that’s stopping the city from actually doing anything about it, like the truck issue it seems it would be trivial to enforce.
- wnolens 4y ago
  Living there, it definitely feels as if there's a low key lawlessness about town. I haven't developed a hatred for the cops here yet, but there's an outspoken critique to the point of being a meme that they enforce very little of these everyday things and beyond (like muggings)
  - bobthepanda 4y ago
    Particularly in the realm of traffic, they tend to flout the law as well; go to nearly any police station and there will be both police and personal cars parked on the sidewalk, or illegally parked in spots. What makes it particularly galling is that they also oppose automated enforcement of traffic laws. Officially it is because it would take away jobs (that they are not doing, since traffic enforcement in NYC leaves a lot to be desired), and unofficially because the police themselves benefit from the discretion exercised by fellow officers refusing to enforce laws on their colleagues.
    - konschubert 4y ago
      Why is “this would take away jobs” an argument that can be made in any non-communist country?
      - quickthrower2 4y ago
        Mostly it isn’t unless it is one of those jobs that isn’t needed most of the time but sometimes like for example a soldier or rural fire service and some bean counter thinks yeah we can slash that. Getting rid of the job gets rid of the people with experience, so it can be a one way switch. Normally solving a problem with a robot creates more jobs. There are speed cameras, but still you have hidden manually operated speed traps and it frees up resources for drug and alcohol testing.
djbusby 4y ago
It's about these electric trucks https://voltatrucks.com/ https://voltatrucks.com/ Coming soon to USA
- _ZeD_ 4y ago
  and they are cool
  - moffkalast 4y ago
    Batteries definitely have temp control.
0des 4y ago
ornornor 4y ago
If only cities in Canada and the US simply enforced traffic laws that are already on the books. But no, drivers are free to do as they please because the police does nothing. Actually, the police is part of the problem in a lot of places by double parking or stopping on bike lanes and sidewalks when they want a coffee or a donut. Cities are so human hostile in most of NA, it’s really disheartening.
- wolverine876 4y ago
  I see it the other way: They don't enforce laws that aren't pragmatic. Double-parking is essential to getting things done in a city, and IME generally everyone acts reasonably - they don't double park when they block the entire street or in bad traffic. No law says 'you can double park, but not in these situations', but people are social animals and act intelligently. I love cities, which often bring out the best in people.
  - ornornor 4y ago
    Double parking is a major pain especially for people cycling: it's dangerous, it blocks traffic, and there is a reason why it's not allowed. But it's not only double parking anyway, it's also speeding, running lights, aggressive driving...
    - wolverine876 4y ago
      There's also a reason why it's allowed, because it generally is. Rarely have any of those things affected my day, and I appreciate that people allow me, when I need it, to double park.
  - bpicolo 4y ago
    Moving is one time this is awkward. There's basically no practical way to "legally" move out/into most apartments in Manhattan as it comes to parking and traffic enforcement. My current building utilizes a bike lane for this purpose, I'm sure much to the dismay of bikers. The only other option is blocking much of the traffic to one of our city's lovely inter-borough bridges.
josephcsible 4y ago
Isn't that one of those laws that would basically bring the city to a halt if it were actually enforced? Consider the horrible traffic jams created by Nestoring as another example.
- theptip 4y ago
  The whole point of TFA is that no, it’s a law that would cause a new type of truck to be brought to market that did comply with the length regulations. Of course you don’t start enforcing the law overnight, you make a credible firm commitment to phase it in at some point in the future. (I’d be interested to hear how aggressive the phase-in was in London).
  - tyrfing 4y ago
    This competes with 26' box trucks, not 53' trailers.
    - theptip 4y ago
      Not if 53’ trailers are banned or restricted inside the city, like the case of NYC as discussed in TFA.
      - tyrfing 4y ago
        It's like talking about replacing C++ with Javascript. 26' box trucks already exist and could be used, but aren't for a reason. The novel part is really just the visibility and lower noise, which is irrelevant to a 53' trailer ban.
        theptip 4y ago
        I think you're missing the point of the conversation up-thread. OP is pointing out that 53' trailers are actually already banned, but the ban is not enforced. GP suggested that enforcing the ban would bring the city to a halt. The OP provides a discussion of an alternative that could be used if the 53' trailer ban was enforced. > 26' box trucks already exist and could be used, but aren't for a reason. Right, at least partly because the ban on 53' trailers is not enforced. Nobody is claiming that these smaller trucks are strictly better in the current market environment (including the assumption that the ban is not enforced). This thread is discussing what would happen if the 53' truck ban was enforced. Your analogy doesn't make sense in this context. Neither C++ nor Javascript are banned. To fix your analogy, try this: If you banned C++ (and enforced the ban) in NYC, then you'd expect to see an increase in use of JS and other languages. Programming would not grind to a halt, if you gave enough notice then the pieces currently implemented in C++ would be re-implemented in another language.
jrockway 4y ago
I'm looking forward to electric vehicles made by Ampere, Farad, and Ohm in the near future.
- ragebol 4y ago
  Opel Ampera: https://ev-database.org/car/1051/Opel-Ampera-e https://ev-database.org/car/1051/Opel-Ampera-e Faraday Future: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_Future https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_Future I guess there's some resistance against using the name Ohm, haven't heard of an electric car with a name inspired on that.
  - robin_reala 4y ago
    Slightly surprised that Ford didn’t start a range of electric cars called Henrys. Missed opportunity.
    - moffkalast 4y ago
      Their competition would just coloumble away.
  - unwind 4y ago
    Yes, one wonders what impedes this good naming choice. In other words, I see what you did there, and I greatly respect you for it.
    - ragebol 4y ago
      Maybe the name doesn't induce a positive feeling in people?
  - moffkalast 4y ago
    > Price €42,990 For a tiny car like that? Absolute insanity. Comes gold plated I take it?
    - 4y ago
UncleEntity 4y ago
Luckily no truck driver wants to go to NYC… The time before the last time I went through New York City I didn’t have the cash to pay the toll to not be in New York so the toll booth attendant gave myself and another driver directions on how to get to a free bridge by taking city streets. Fun times were had. And no, as TFA claims, 53’ trailers aren’t designed to be only used on highways. A lot of the places we end up weren’t designed with them in mind (because they’re old or whatever) but if you take your time and use a little caution it is quite possible to get it done without taking out a bunch of baby strollers. If normal folks knew half the sketchy stuff I’ve gotten up to in a big truck over the years they’d be a little horrified and a lot impressed because you have to be pretty good at this to last — usually it’s around the one year mark people get overconfident and make some stupid mistake that costs them their job. There’s a reason a lot of companies won’t talk to you without a couple years experience. Always nice to be appreciated by random bloggers though, gives my life meaning.
- smilespray 4y ago
  Is there a term for this phenomenon of becoming overconfident a certain period into learning a new thing, and being able to observe this as a spike in accidents and incidents? I feel it's a pretty universal thing.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- Aditya_Garg 4y ago
  Got any interesting stories to share? Would love to hear more
pronlover723 4y ago
It drives me crazy to see laws like this unenforced. An unenforced law is basically a law that is only used when someone power doesn't like you. It's something they keep in their back pocket to either have you pay them off or for them just to kick you out. They don't like company ABC, enforce the law just on ABC's trucks. Sure there are some dumb laws, and they should remove them. But, if they have a law it should be enforced IMO.
- BMorearty 4y ago
  There's at least one other type of unenforced law: a law whose opponents were unable to block its passing, but were able to block funding for its enforcement agency or block appointment of a head of that agency.
- godelski 4y ago
  The one that gets me the most is Keep Right Laws[0]. I've never been in a state (I've been in a lot) where these are enforced. There's small patches where people do this, but never more than a 50 mile stretch. It's simple: "If you aren't actively passing, stay out of the left/PASSING lane." I really do believe that people think being in the left lane makes you go faster. But these laws, if enforced, can dramatically reduce highway accidents. [0] https://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html https://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html
  - mellavora 4y ago
    It is enforced in Germany. There is a culture which takes driving seriously.
    - godelski 4y ago
      I was highly contemplating adding a joke about the autoban to my comment. Didn't take long for someone to mention Germany lol. But even though it is enforced in Germany, it doesn't help that most people (including police) don't know that these laws are even on the books.
  - rascul 4y ago
blenderdt 4y ago
UPS ordered 10.000 Arrival vans. In my city there are only electric busses, most made by Iveco. There are a lot of examples like this. Most of those changes are forces by law. And this is a good thing. I like that we now have less noise and pollution in our cities.
- chrisjc 4y ago
  I was waiting for someone to drop the Arrival name. A year or less back, Arrival news seemed to be everywhere but lately they seemed to have dropped off the map. Perhaps they're heads-down, focusing on deliveries and new applications? They seemed like an exciting company to follow, bar all of the SPAC noise. Hope that all is going well with them, bc they're certainly in a space with, or soon to have a lot of competition.
choeger 4y ago
Interestingly, this requires a second set of vehicles, as the electrical trucks won't cut it on the long haul. This evens the ground for rail-based logistics, which also need a second set of vehicles at the target location. Of course, the drivers of these City-Trucks will earn city wages. It will be interesting to see how this works out economically.
- quickthrower2 4y ago
  Maybe the cost of stuff in London goes up by a penny or two, spreading it across everyone. Maybe a tiny bit less crap gets ordered online that wasn’t needed.
- Closi 4y ago
  A second set of vehicles is required for long-haul anyway. Usually you want to do the long-haul part with a large capacity articulated vehicle (e.g. a double decker) and these will typically need to be offloaded at a depot, and then you will do the next leg with a rigid vehicle if required. Similarly for Rail you are loading a container which will then probably be handled by an articulated vehicle before THEN being loaded onto a rigid vehicle. (I'm a logistics / supply chain consultant based in the UK, so aware of how these things usually work over here at least)
  - hnbad 4y ago
    Sure but the point is that unlike with traditional LGVs, the long-haul can't be done with electric ones because of the weight of the batteries required to serve that kind of distance.
    - Closi 4y ago
      Yeah but in both scenarios you are putting it on a different vehicle to go longhaul. These would be replacing rigids for fairly local delivery - rigids which don’t usually do long haul now.
  - alistairSH 4y ago
    A second set of vehicles is required for long-haul anyway. Per the article, it appears that isn't the case in NYC. The 53'ers are driving downtown despite regulation to the contrary. It should be the case. And is now the case in London. Just not here in the US.
inetsee 4y ago
I have often wondered why no one has developed a multi-wheel steering truck trailer. I know nothing about the engineering difficulties, or the cost penalty, but it seems to me that multi-wheel steering would make a truck, even a long truck, much more manouverable in confined spaces.
- frederikvs 4y ago
  Perhaps it makes more sense to have a few big vans over one big truck, when it comes to manoeuvrability in small spaces. A big van is more manoeuvrable than a full-sized truck can ever be, even with multi-wheel steering - you still have a honking big box that can't bend.
- rhn_mk1 4y ago
  To my surprise, they actually exist. Sadly, I'm only relying on testimony, so have no way to prove it.
- Gordonjcp 4y ago
  Most artic trailers with more than two axles (and many with only two axles) have got multiple steer axles.
- rascul 4y ago
  This is a thing on some large fire trucks. At least for this application it requires someone steering from the back of the trailer. See this one in Seattle for an example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhuSwHni0jc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhuSwHni0jc
- leoedin 4y ago
  This is super-common in Europe. You see a lot of trucks around London with rear wheel steering. eg http://www.transportengineer.org.uk/transport-engineer-features/march-of-the-large-rigid/141645 http://www.transportengineer.org.uk/transport-engineer-featu... http://spectrumfreight.co.uk/view_news.php?cid=15 http://spectrumfreight.co.uk/view_news.php?cid=15
neya 4y ago
Unpopular opinion: (Not in the context of this article) While I think the new design of the truck is better w.r.t driver's seat position, shouldn't we actually focus on solving the core problem instead? Rogue road users. (Forget the truck and New York), depending on which country you live in, they can be rogue or law abiding, but, if you take a country like Singapore, it is not uncommon to see rogue bikes riding in the middle of the highway - In fact, it is even illegal in Singapore. I would hate for manufacturers to accept this as reality and modify their vehicles to accommodate rogue road users. There is a reason for this thinking - Every compromise we make for other rogue road user, we compromise our own safety. Eg. Our bonnets are already weak now due to "pedestrian safety" features - ie. in the event a jaywalker comes into your path out of nowhere. I would rather the government focuses on infrastructure to solve for these problems than the manufacturers. Everybody wins then. Edit: Clarified
- unglaublich 4y ago
  The core problem is that we have huge bulks of metal driving at high speed through out cities, with drivers that are unable to observe their surroundings, and even when they do take too much time to come to a safe stop. You are right about solving infrastructure: cities should be people-centric, not car-centric. Ban motorized traffic wherever people need to live. Invest in public transport, sharing services, walkability.
- ageitgey 4y ago
  Large trucks driving through city centers and killing pedestrians who moving around the neighborhoods they live and work in and the pedestrians are "rogue road users"?
  - neya 4y ago
    Forget the truck, not referring to the truck, but what if these changes are made to cars? So, now to accommodate these road users, your car will be made of tin can instead of thicker Aluminium sheets. As a biker, that is good news to you, but as someone who paid $x0,000 for my car I wouldn't be happy obviously. Bikers drive like trash in most countries, why should car users take the hit for that?
yellowapple 4y ago
Are flatbed versions of these trucks in the works? Or is there a bare chassis option? As one example: there are a lot of tow trucks here in the US in a size class similar to the Volta Zero, and seeing as how tow trucks are a common occurrence in cities, it seems like it'd be worthwhile for them to get these same safety features. Another example use case: hauling 20' containers in and out of transit hubs, slashing emissions from last-mile freight delivery.
Gordonjcp 4y ago
That looks like a converted bus cab.
ZeroGravitas 4y ago
Good to see support of sensible regulations, but I feel the author may have got caught up in some pro-UK propaganda: https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/ https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/ Tl;dr like many sensible regulations this was an EU initiative. https://www.transportenvironment.org/discover/seeing-believing-eu-agrees-new-direct-vision-law-end-truck-blind-spot-accidents https://www.transportenvironment.org/discover/seeing-believi... Not because the EU is nice or anything like that, it's just the right level to mandate safety standards so that standard designs can be made cheaply at scale and not be undermined by a race to the bottom.
- brigandish 4y ago
  You've linked to Channel 4's fact check page but not any specific article and I don't see one about the direct vision standard anywhere on the site. Secondly, the standard was not an EU initiative, it was London's, though the EU and other places are also coming up with standards. From [1]: > Significantly, the EU is set to follow London’s DVS for trucks From [2]: > The Direct Vision Standard was developed by the Mayor of London (Sadiq Khan) as part of his Vision Zero initiative Sadiq Khan is very pro-EU and I find it hard to believe he'd miss an opportunity to give credit to the EU and give a snide aside towards Brexit and its supporters, but it seems he's not bothered this time. From [3]: > "Our world-first Direct Vision Standard has saved lives > TfL is also working with the EU and other cities to mandate direct vision in vehicle design and safety regulations. And from the notes on that page: > TfL's Direct Vision Standard was developed in conjunction with Loughborough University's School of Design and Creative Arts and through extensive engagement with lorry manufacturers > The See Me Save Me campaign was founded in 2009 by Kate Cairns following the death of her sister, Eilidh, at Notting Hill Gate, London. See Me Save Me challenges industry, policymakers and the justice system to push for faster adoption of measures to reduce HGV danger > Kate led the call for direct vision lorries at the European Parliament in Strasbourg in 2010, with the See Me Save Me (seemesaveme.org) campaign lobbying alongside MEP Fiona Hall for mandatory cameras and sensors > Further lobbying followed in Brussels in 2011 for amendment to Directive 96/53 to improve direct visibility of HGV cabs (seemesaveme.org/policy). The DVS incorporates both of these mitigation measures So it turns out that the real credit should go to a campaigner who has managed, with the help of a charity called Roadpeace, to turn personal tragedy into something positive, and those with the power to make changes in developing and implementing these standards together and in parallel, and not in opposition to each other. Finally, I think using words like "propaganda" for situations like this is wholly misplaced and unhelpful. [1] https://www.volvotrucks.com/en-en/news-stories/insights/articles/2019/may/londons-direct-vision-standard-benchmark-for-the-rest-of-the-world.html https://www.volvotrucks.com/en-en/news-stories/insights/arti... [2] https://vuegroup.org/direct-vision-standard-six-vital-things/ https://vuegroup.org/direct-vision-standard-six-vital-things... [3] https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2021/june/three-months-of-tfl-s-world-first-direct-vision-standard-shows-lorries-in-london-are-safer https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2021/june/t...
deleted 4y ago
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prawn 4y ago
I sat on a citizen's jury about cycling a few years ago and one speaker we heard from (in our lead up to working on recommendations) was from the trucking industry. We knew trucks had poor visibility, that cyclists could get knocked over and swept under the trailer, etc but this guy was an absolute buck-passer and unfortunately he had the rest of the jurors spellbound with irrelevant excuses. He'd admitted that 'skirts' on the side of the trucks would make a difference, but there was zero appetite for that change because obviously it would cost transport companies money. Even just better visibility with the side windows has to be fairly achievable. That said, I have a lot of respect for truckers here in Australia. In my experience, they're some of the more responsible drivers on the road, through sheer mileage and consideration of their heft. They'll almost always signal when it's safe to overtake, through necessity they're wary brakers and so on.
mstngl 4y ago
With the Econic[1] Mercedes Benz as one of the established manufacturers of utility vehicles already offers a product which implements some of the mentioned advantages of lower position for driver an extended window area. Here in Germany they can be often seen as garbage truck or fire fighting truck[2] in the cities. An BEV version was announced[3]. On the other hand, even tallest semi trucks (here 40 tons class) are allowed to roll through German cities widely. They are often involved in accidents with pedestrians or bicylclists with fatal outcome. The main reason is bad sight when turning right. Therefore turning assistants[3] will become mandatory. However, placing the driver better and giving him more field of view is preferred. [1] https://www.mercedes-benz-trucks.com/de_DE/models/econic.html https://www.mercedes-benz-trucks.com/de_DE/models/econic.htm... [2] https://mbs.mercedes-benz.com/de/special-trucks/feuerwehr/ausgesprochen-vielseitig.html https://mbs.mercedes-benz.com/de/special-trucks/feuerwehr/au... [3] https://www.mercedes-benz-trucks.com/de_DE/models/eeconic.html https://www.mercedes-benz-trucks.com/de_DE/models/eeconic.ht... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_assistant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_assistant but better see German version : https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbiegeassistent https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbiegeassistent
goodpoint 4y ago
FTA: > has Volta designed a safer truck for urban transport simply because European companies are more enlightened and civilized on these issues than Americans? [...] yes, culture matters
orangepurple 4y ago
How will the spike in global lithium prices affect the ability of these vehicle manufacturers to deliver their cars and trucks?
MisterTea 4y ago
This is another ill informed piece from a truck hater. We have high visibility low cab forward class 7 trucks already: Mack MR & LR, Peterbilt LCF, Freightliner Condor, etc. Bartlett dairy in NYC runs Mack MR's and DSNY sanitation trucks are all LR's plus the postal service runs MR tractors in the city. I don't understand why he thinks these Voltas will replace 53's trailers. First problem is 53's are fine for transport outside of NYC meaning the carrier would have to designate NYC a special destination. No carrier is going to send a volta 3000 miles to NYC to deliver a few tons of freight. This means when you get a NYC freight quote you are going to pay for two shipments: from the destination to a local transfer dock and from that dock to the NYC destination. And does each carrier have their own class 7 fleet and hub or is that yet another carrier in the mix? This adds cost and complexity to the supply chain. Freight cost is insane right now thanks to the global mess humanity is currently in. I had to buy parts for a machine that were light weight but 10 feet long (the wood skid was heavier than the parts.) Parts cost $310, freight was $650 and came on a 53'. If a transfer was involved requiring humpers and a second driver I'm sure it would add another few hundred dollars. Of course mr truck hater doesn't care because he doesn't directly see the impacts from his cushy twitter job.
- schmeckleberg 4y ago
  Would a "truck hater" voluntarily describe a truck as "cool"? I think it is possible to respond to a more charitable interpretation of the post than the one that you are responding to. Tell me some more about your 10 foot long parts that were outweighed by their wooden skid? Would you still have bought them and had them shipped if freight had cost a few hundred dollars more? Genuinely interested. Were the parts for your business? An employer's business? A personal project? Honestly interested. A joy shared is a joy multiplied. A pain shared is a pain divided.
maxekman 4y ago
Shameless plug for my employer Einride. We are building a almost driverless truck (AD with remote safety driver). Really cool company to work for. https://www.einride.tech/pod https://www.einride.tech/pod Edit: Driverless clarification.
pvillano 4y ago
Would it be possible for a startup to create a product with [positive externalities] and lobby for companies to be required to create their version of the product with [positive externalities], instead of incumbents lobbying to get away with [negative externalities]
cullinap 4y ago
is there a taxi-drivers driving badly twitter?
tim333 4y ago
It's good London is doing something. It came after an awful lot of news headlines of cyclists killed by trucks, or lorries as us Brits call them eg https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/18/sixth-london-cyclist-killed-camberwell-lorry https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/18/sixth-london... Leading to https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/sep/30/lorries-face-london-ban-plans-improve-safety-cyclists#:~:text=Khan's%20office%20said%20there%20were,the%20cyclist%20deaths%20involving%20HGVs.&text=Overall%2C%20lorries%20were%20connected%20to,and%2022.5%25%20of%20pedestrian%20deaths https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/sep/30/lorries-face...

472 points by williamsmj 4y ago

Trucks are not allowed also in my hometown in Italy, and it’s not enforced as people tend to let them work expecting common sense based decisions, but a couple of years ago a truck driver just lacked that and tried to go through a very narrow old street blocking the center for hours and got his license revoked and the truck taken, so I guess everyone just be careful

hnbear 4y ago
Lots and lots of stories here in the UK about trucks following GPS directions meant for cars and getting stuck, damaging buildings in small towns or both. Eg https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-10809733 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-10809733

atty 4y ago

Cool trucks, but if one of the concerns is weight, I can’t imagine a BEV truck with any decent range is gonna have appreciably better weight/axle. But perhaps I’m overestimating how much battery they’d need.

djvdq 4y ago
It's meant for cities. It don't have to have thousands of km in range. But as I read for Volta Zero they promises 150-200 km od range with ~9 tonnes payload (but they want also 16-ton variant). For city driving looks okay for me.
- GayforMoleman 4y ago
  Not to mention the idea is to reduce inner city pollution and noise pollution levels. Current trucks are despised in cities for this. It’s worth sacrificing on some other aspects to achieve that.
  - dylan604 4y ago
    It's worth it to you to trade distance for clean/quiet, but it's the companies involved using the trucks that need to be convinced. Telling them that they need to have separate trucks for city use and long haul use will receive push back from sheer momentum of how it's done now. Unless the cities get involved and tax the bejeebus out of them for not switching, they will never switch.
    - nine_k 4y ago
      They already often have very large trucks that only go to warehouses, and would be a pain to drive through a city, especially such an old and super-dense one as NYC. Smaller trucks move smaller quantities around the city from the warehouses. Maybe sometimes you need to bring something especially large e.g. for a construction; such deliveries may be special-cased and planned carefully, instead of being completely off-limits.
    - Scarblac 4y ago
      It's not the companies that need to be convinced, it's a matter of the people wanting this enough that politicians act on it or get voted out, and then companies are just forced to follow the regulations that require such trucks. The US is a democracy that doesn't act like one.
  - mellavora 4y ago
    > noise pollution levels. except for that damn backup "beep beep". Yes, I know the arguments for safety, and few of them are based on studies which show safety improvements esp vs other options, like backup cameras. Or if the beep only signaled if there was an obstruction behind the truck. That would be a great use for computer vision. Someone standing behind the truck (or even just something which might be a person)? Beep. Otherwise, keep quiet. An alarm which is false 10x more than it is true is not an alarm.
    - omegabravo 4y ago
      The beep isn't for the driver. I don't want it to beep after I step out behind it, I want it to beep before. Despite that, there is an alternative which sounds more like a hiss. The main benefit is that you can identify the direction from your hearing. I have to look in all directions to find where the beep is coming from. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa28lIGuxq8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa28lIGuxq8
jillesvangurp 4y ago
Battery electric trucks exist in pretty much any weight class you can think off. This stopped being a theoretical thing about a decade ago. The main issue is cost and even that is starting to look really good. For last mile deliveries in cities it's pretty much game over for ICE vehicles. Electrical vans are selling as fast as they can be produced. They are cheaper to operate, cleaner to drive, more comfortable (no vibrations, quiet), etc. and they get the job done. Range is fine too. 300-500 miles is plenty for a long distance truck doing 50-60 miles per hour. There are several manufacturers selling battery electrical class 8 trucks now. It will take a while for those to get common of course and for charging infrastructure to ramp up (these things need some serious amounts of juice). They have their required 45 minute break every few hours in any case. Great opportunity to charge the vehicle. Range anxiety for commercial vehicles is not a thing. You might have personal anxiety but it's an entirely predictable thing that you can plan and budget for from a business point of view. It either is good/affordable enough and adequate or it is not. In fact, it seems the low range delivery vans are popular because they are more cost effective and more efficient (less unneeded dead battery weight). Why spend the extra money on range you don't need? It seems the sweet spot is around 100 miles range. Some vans do even less than that. But it's more than the average delivery van does in a day apparently. Longer range options are available. Anxiety does not factor into this. It's a simple matter of "do we spend the 10-20k extra and is it worth it?"

Gigachad 4y ago

I'm surprised. This is a cool truck. Trucks hardly get any mention in safety discussions but seeing the visibility differences here its quite astounding how much they were able to improve it. I wonder if it would make sense to mandate new ICE trucks to have the engine positioned behind the cab rather than under it to get these same improvements on non electric trucks.

WilTimSon 4y ago
I was worried it'd be about that Tesla Cybertruck but was pleasantly surprised as well. The added visibility is genuinely smart design that will, hopefully, save lives. Not sure how viable these could be for long hauls but if they're for city use only, I'm very excited.
joering2 4y ago
Such a relief comparing it with Musk idea of "daisy-chained" Tesla Semis going down the highway in an autopilot, delivering cargo at "10% of train's cost"
- porphyra 4y ago
  For what it's worth, the Tesla Semi also has much better visibility than conventional semi trucks.
  - joering2 4y ago
    how do you know this?
- atoav 4y ago
  Does it factor in road maintenance or is it socialized cost as usual?
  - warmwaffles 4y ago
    > Does it factor in road maintenance or is it socialized cost as usual? It most likely does not factor in road maintenance, and the railroad doesn't factor in their maintenance either.

GayforMoleman 4y ago

I recently visited NYC and I can’t help but feel the city has a wide culture of laissez faire unenforcement. So many grocery and convenience stores in the city have no posted prices for any items, even in the airport. As a foreigner I was pretty shocked but the people I talked to said it was pretty much normal and there’s nothing really that can be done. Mind you we checked and it is actually not legal to have no visible pricing. I’m not sure what it is that’s stopping the city from actually doing anything about it, like the truck issue it seems it would be trivial to enforce.

wnolens 4y ago
Living there, it definitely feels as if there's a low key lawlessness about town. I haven't developed a hatred for the cops here yet, but there's an outspoken critique to the point of being a meme that they enforce very little of these everyday things and beyond (like muggings)
- bobthepanda 4y ago
  Particularly in the realm of traffic, they tend to flout the law as well; go to nearly any police station and there will be both police and personal cars parked on the sidewalk, or illegally parked in spots. What makes it particularly galling is that they also oppose automated enforcement of traffic laws. Officially it is because it would take away jobs (that they are not doing, since traffic enforcement in NYC leaves a lot to be desired), and unofficially because the police themselves benefit from the discretion exercised by fellow officers refusing to enforce laws on their colleagues.
  - konschubert 4y ago
    Why is “this would take away jobs” an argument that can be made in any non-communist country?
    - quickthrower2 4y ago
      Mostly it isn’t unless it is one of those jobs that isn’t needed most of the time but sometimes like for example a soldier or rural fire service and some bean counter thinks yeah we can slash that. Getting rid of the job gets rid of the people with experience, so it can be a one way switch. Normally solving a problem with a robot creates more jobs. There are speed cameras, but still you have hidden manually operated speed traps and it frees up resources for drug and alcohol testing.

djbusby 4y ago

It's about these electric trucks https://voltatrucks.com/ https://voltatrucks.com/ Coming soon to USA

_ZeD_ 4y ago
and they are cool
- moffkalast 4y ago
  Batteries definitely have temp control.

0des 4y ago

ornornor 4y ago

If only cities in Canada and the US simply enforced traffic laws that are already on the books. But no, drivers are free to do as they please because the police does nothing. Actually, the police is part of the problem in a lot of places by double parking or stopping on bike lanes and sidewalks when they want a coffee or a donut. Cities are so human hostile in most of NA, it’s really disheartening.

wolverine876 4y ago
I see it the other way: They don't enforce laws that aren't pragmatic. Double-parking is essential to getting things done in a city, and IME generally everyone acts reasonably - they don't double park when they block the entire street or in bad traffic. No law says 'you can double park, but not in these situations', but people are social animals and act intelligently. I love cities, which often bring out the best in people.
- ornornor 4y ago
  Double parking is a major pain especially for people cycling: it's dangerous, it blocks traffic, and there is a reason why it's not allowed. But it's not only double parking anyway, it's also speeding, running lights, aggressive driving...
  - wolverine876 4y ago
    There's also a reason why it's allowed, because it generally is. Rarely have any of those things affected my day, and I appreciate that people allow me, when I need it, to double park.
- bpicolo 4y ago
  Moving is one time this is awkward. There's basically no practical way to "legally" move out/into most apartments in Manhattan as it comes to parking and traffic enforcement. My current building utilizes a bike lane for this purpose, I'm sure much to the dismay of bikers. The only other option is blocking much of the traffic to one of our city's lovely inter-borough bridges.

josephcsible 4y ago

Isn't that one of those laws that would basically bring the city to a halt if it were actually enforced? Consider the horrible traffic jams created by Nestoring as another example.

theptip 4y ago
The whole point of TFA is that no, it’s a law that would cause a new type of truck to be brought to market that did comply with the length regulations. Of course you don’t start enforcing the law overnight, you make a credible firm commitment to phase it in at some point in the future. (I’d be interested to hear how aggressive the phase-in was in London).
- tyrfing 4y ago
  This competes with 26' box trucks, not 53' trailers.
  - theptip 4y ago
    Not if 53’ trailers are banned or restricted inside the city, like the case of NYC as discussed in TFA.
    - tyrfing 4y ago
      It's like talking about replacing C++ with Javascript. 26' box trucks already exist and could be used, but aren't for a reason. The novel part is really just the visibility and lower noise, which is irrelevant to a 53' trailer ban.
      - theptip 4y ago
        I think you're missing the point of the conversation up-thread. OP is pointing out that 53' trailers are actually already banned, but the ban is not enforced. GP suggested that enforcing the ban would bring the city to a halt. The OP provides a discussion of an alternative that could be used if the 53' trailer ban was enforced. > 26' box trucks already exist and could be used, but aren't for a reason. Right, at least partly because the ban on 53' trailers is not enforced. Nobody is claiming that these smaller trucks are strictly better in the current market environment (including the assumption that the ban is not enforced). This thread is discussing what would happen if the 53' truck ban was enforced. Your analogy doesn't make sense in this context. Neither C++ nor Javascript are banned. To fix your analogy, try this: If you banned C++ (and enforced the ban) in NYC, then you'd expect to see an increase in use of JS and other languages. Programming would not grind to a halt, if you gave enough notice then the pieces currently implemented in C++ would be re-implemented in another language.

jrockway 4y ago

I'm looking forward to electric vehicles made by Ampere, Farad, and Ohm in the near future.

ragebol 4y ago
Opel Ampera: https://ev-database.org/car/1051/Opel-Ampera-e https://ev-database.org/car/1051/Opel-Ampera-e Faraday Future: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_Future https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_Future I guess there's some resistance against using the name Ohm, haven't heard of an electric car with a name inspired on that.
- robin_reala 4y ago
  Slightly surprised that Ford didn’t start a range of electric cars called Henrys. Missed opportunity.
  - moffkalast 4y ago
    Their competition would just coloumble away.
- unwind 4y ago
  Yes, one wonders what impedes this good naming choice. In other words, I see what you did there, and I greatly respect you for it.
  - ragebol 4y ago
    Maybe the name doesn't induce a positive feeling in people?
- moffkalast 4y ago
  > Price €42,990 For a tiny car like that? Absolute insanity. Comes gold plated I take it?
  - 4y ago

UncleEntity 4y ago

Luckily no truck driver wants to go to NYC… The time before the last time I went through New York City I didn’t have the cash to pay the toll to not be in New York so the toll booth attendant gave myself and another driver directions on how to get to a free bridge by taking city streets. Fun times were had. And no, as TFA claims, 53’ trailers aren’t designed to be only used on highways. A lot of the places we end up weren’t designed with them in mind (because they’re old or whatever) but if you take your time and use a little caution it is quite possible to get it done without taking out a bunch of baby strollers. If normal folks knew half the sketchy stuff I’ve gotten up to in a big truck over the years they’d be a little horrified and a lot impressed because you have to be pretty good at this to last — usually it’s around the one year mark people get overconfident and make some stupid mistake that costs them their job. There’s a reason a lot of companies won’t talk to you without a couple years experience. Always nice to be appreciated by random bloggers though, gives my life meaning.

smilespray 4y ago
Is there a term for this phenomenon of becoming overconfident a certain period into learning a new thing, and being able to observe this as a spike in accidents and incidents? I feel it's a pretty universal thing.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
Aditya_Garg 4y ago
Got any interesting stories to share? Would love to hear more

pronlover723 4y ago

It drives me crazy to see laws like this unenforced. An unenforced law is basically a law that is only used when someone power doesn't like you. It's something they keep in their back pocket to either have you pay them off or for them just to kick you out. They don't like company ABC, enforce the law just on ABC's trucks. Sure there are some dumb laws, and they should remove them. But, if they have a law it should be enforced IMO.

BMorearty 4y ago
There's at least one other type of unenforced law: a law whose opponents were unable to block its passing, but were able to block funding for its enforcement agency or block appointment of a head of that agency.
godelski 4y ago
The one that gets me the most is Keep Right Laws[0]. I've never been in a state (I've been in a lot) where these are enforced. There's small patches where people do this, but never more than a 50 mile stretch. It's simple: "If you aren't actively passing, stay out of the left/PASSING lane." I really do believe that people think being in the left lane makes you go faster. But these laws, if enforced, can dramatically reduce highway accidents. [0] https://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html https://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html
- mellavora 4y ago
  It is enforced in Germany. There is a culture which takes driving seriously.
  - godelski 4y ago
    I was highly contemplating adding a joke about the autoban to my comment. Didn't take long for someone to mention Germany lol. But even though it is enforced in Germany, it doesn't help that most people (including police) don't know that these laws are even on the books.
- rascul 4y ago

blenderdt 4y ago

UPS ordered 10.000 Arrival vans. In my city there are only electric busses, most made by Iveco. There are a lot of examples like this. Most of those changes are forces by law. And this is a good thing. I like that we now have less noise and pollution in our cities.

chrisjc 4y ago
I was waiting for someone to drop the Arrival name. A year or less back, Arrival news seemed to be everywhere but lately they seemed to have dropped off the map. Perhaps they're heads-down, focusing on deliveries and new applications? They seemed like an exciting company to follow, bar all of the SPAC noise. Hope that all is going well with them, bc they're certainly in a space with, or soon to have a lot of competition.

choeger 4y ago

Interestingly, this requires a second set of vehicles, as the electrical trucks won't cut it on the long haul. This evens the ground for rail-based logistics, which also need a second set of vehicles at the target location. Of course, the drivers of these City-Trucks will earn city wages. It will be interesting to see how this works out economically.

quickthrower2 4y ago
Maybe the cost of stuff in London goes up by a penny or two, spreading it across everyone. Maybe a tiny bit less crap gets ordered online that wasn’t needed.
Closi 4y ago
A second set of vehicles is required for long-haul anyway. Usually you want to do the long-haul part with a large capacity articulated vehicle (e.g. a double decker) and these will typically need to be offloaded at a depot, and then you will do the next leg with a rigid vehicle if required. Similarly for Rail you are loading a container which will then probably be handled by an articulated vehicle before THEN being loaded onto a rigid vehicle. (I'm a logistics / supply chain consultant based in the UK, so aware of how these things usually work over here at least)
- hnbad 4y ago
  Sure but the point is that unlike with traditional LGVs, the long-haul can't be done with electric ones because of the weight of the batteries required to serve that kind of distance.
  - Closi 4y ago
    Yeah but in both scenarios you are putting it on a different vehicle to go longhaul. These would be replacing rigids for fairly local delivery - rigids which don’t usually do long haul now.
- alistairSH 4y ago
  A second set of vehicles is required for long-haul anyway. Per the article, it appears that isn't the case in NYC. The 53'ers are driving downtown despite regulation to the contrary. It should be the case. And is now the case in London. Just not here in the US.

inetsee 4y ago

I have often wondered why no one has developed a multi-wheel steering truck trailer. I know nothing about the engineering difficulties, or the cost penalty, but it seems to me that multi-wheel steering would make a truck, even a long truck, much more manouverable in confined spaces.

frederikvs 4y ago
Perhaps it makes more sense to have a few big vans over one big truck, when it comes to manoeuvrability in small spaces. A big van is more manoeuvrable than a full-sized truck can ever be, even with multi-wheel steering - you still have a honking big box that can't bend.
rhn_mk1 4y ago
To my surprise, they actually exist. Sadly, I'm only relying on testimony, so have no way to prove it.
Gordonjcp 4y ago
Most artic trailers with more than two axles (and many with only two axles) have got multiple steer axles.
rascul 4y ago
This is a thing on some large fire trucks. At least for this application it requires someone steering from the back of the trailer. See this one in Seattle for an example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhuSwHni0jc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhuSwHni0jc
leoedin 4y ago
This is super-common in Europe. You see a lot of trucks around London with rear wheel steering. eg http://www.transportengineer.org.uk/transport-engineer-features/march-of-the-large-rigid/141645 http://www.transportengineer.org.uk/transport-engineer-featu... http://spectrumfreight.co.uk/view_news.php?cid=15 http://spectrumfreight.co.uk/view_news.php?cid=15

neya 4y ago

Unpopular opinion: (Not in the context of this article) While I think the new design of the truck is better w.r.t driver's seat position, shouldn't we actually focus on solving the core problem instead? Rogue road users. (Forget the truck and New York), depending on which country you live in, they can be rogue or law abiding, but, if you take a country like Singapore, it is not uncommon to see rogue bikes riding in the middle of the highway - In fact, it is even illegal in Singapore. I would hate for manufacturers to accept this as reality and modify their vehicles to accommodate rogue road users. There is a reason for this thinking - Every compromise we make for other rogue road user, we compromise our own safety. Eg. Our bonnets are already weak now due to "pedestrian safety" features - ie. in the event a jaywalker comes into your path out of nowhere. I would rather the government focuses on infrastructure to solve for these problems than the manufacturers. Everybody wins then. Edit: Clarified

unglaublich 4y ago
The core problem is that we have huge bulks of metal driving at high speed through out cities, with drivers that are unable to observe their surroundings, and even when they do take too much time to come to a safe stop. You are right about solving infrastructure: cities should be people-centric, not car-centric. Ban motorized traffic wherever people need to live. Invest in public transport, sharing services, walkability.
ageitgey 4y ago
Large trucks driving through city centers and killing pedestrians who moving around the neighborhoods they live and work in and the pedestrians are "rogue road users"?
- neya 4y ago
  Forget the truck, not referring to the truck, but what if these changes are made to cars? So, now to accommodate these road users, your car will be made of tin can instead of thicker Aluminium sheets. As a biker, that is good news to you, but as someone who paid $x0,000 for my car I wouldn't be happy obviously. Bikers drive like trash in most countries, why should car users take the hit for that?

yellowapple 4y ago

Are flatbed versions of these trucks in the works? Or is there a bare chassis option? As one example: there are a lot of tow trucks here in the US in a size class similar to the Volta Zero, and seeing as how tow trucks are a common occurrence in cities, it seems like it'd be worthwhile for them to get these same safety features. Another example use case: hauling 20' containers in and out of transit hubs, slashing emissions from last-mile freight delivery.

Gordonjcp 4y ago

That looks like a converted bus cab.

ZeroGravitas 4y ago

Good to see support of sensible regulations, but I feel the author may have got caught up in some pro-UK propaganda: https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/ https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/ Tl;dr like many sensible regulations this was an EU initiative. https://www.transportenvironment.org/discover/seeing-believing-eu-agrees-new-direct-vision-law-end-truck-blind-spot-accidents https://www.transportenvironment.org/discover/seeing-believi... Not because the EU is nice or anything like that, it's just the right level to mandate safety standards so that standard designs can be made cheaply at scale and not be undermined by a race to the bottom.

brigandish 4y ago
You've linked to Channel 4's fact check page but not any specific article and I don't see one about the direct vision standard anywhere on the site. Secondly, the standard was not an EU initiative, it was London's, though the EU and other places are also coming up with standards. From [1]: > Significantly, the EU is set to follow London’s DVS for trucks From [2]: > The Direct Vision Standard was developed by the Mayor of London (Sadiq Khan) as part of his Vision Zero initiative Sadiq Khan is very pro-EU and I find it hard to believe he'd miss an opportunity to give credit to the EU and give a snide aside towards Brexit and its supporters, but it seems he's not bothered this time. From [3]: > "Our world-first Direct Vision Standard has saved lives > TfL is also working with the EU and other cities to mandate direct vision in vehicle design and safety regulations. And from the notes on that page: > TfL's Direct Vision Standard was developed in conjunction with Loughborough University's School of Design and Creative Arts and through extensive engagement with lorry manufacturers > The See Me Save Me campaign was founded in 2009 by Kate Cairns following the death of her sister, Eilidh, at Notting Hill Gate, London. See Me Save Me challenges industry, policymakers and the justice system to push for faster adoption of measures to reduce HGV danger > Kate led the call for direct vision lorries at the European Parliament in Strasbourg in 2010, with the See Me Save Me (seemesaveme.org) campaign lobbying alongside MEP Fiona Hall for mandatory cameras and sensors > Further lobbying followed in Brussels in 2011 for amendment to Directive 96/53 to improve direct visibility of HGV cabs (seemesaveme.org/policy). The DVS incorporates both of these mitigation measures So it turns out that the real credit should go to a campaigner who has managed, with the help of a charity called Roadpeace, to turn personal tragedy into something positive, and those with the power to make changes in developing and implementing these standards together and in parallel, and not in opposition to each other. Finally, I think using words like "propaganda" for situations like this is wholly misplaced and unhelpful. [1] https://www.volvotrucks.com/en-en/news-stories/insights/articles/2019/may/londons-direct-vision-standard-benchmark-for-the-rest-of-the-world.html https://www.volvotrucks.com/en-en/news-stories/insights/arti... [2] https://vuegroup.org/direct-vision-standard-six-vital-things/ https://vuegroup.org/direct-vision-standard-six-vital-things... [3] https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2021/june/three-months-of-tfl-s-world-first-direct-vision-standard-shows-lorries-in-london-are-safer https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2021/june/t...

deleted 4y ago

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prawn 4y ago

I sat on a citizen's jury about cycling a few years ago and one speaker we heard from (in our lead up to working on recommendations) was from the trucking industry. We knew trucks had poor visibility, that cyclists could get knocked over and swept under the trailer, etc but this guy was an absolute buck-passer and unfortunately he had the rest of the jurors spellbound with irrelevant excuses. He'd admitted that 'skirts' on the side of the trucks would make a difference, but there was zero appetite for that change because obviously it would cost transport companies money. Even just better visibility with the side windows has to be fairly achievable. That said, I have a lot of respect for truckers here in Australia. In my experience, they're some of the more responsible drivers on the road, through sheer mileage and consideration of their heft. They'll almost always signal when it's safe to overtake, through necessity they're wary brakers and so on.

mstngl 4y ago

With the Econic[1] Mercedes Benz as one of the established manufacturers of utility vehicles already offers a product which implements some of the mentioned advantages of lower position for driver an extended window area. Here in Germany they can be often seen as garbage truck or fire fighting truck[2] in the cities. An BEV version was announced[3]. On the other hand, even tallest semi trucks (here 40 tons class) are allowed to roll through German cities widely. They are often involved in accidents with pedestrians or bicylclists with fatal outcome. The main reason is bad sight when turning right. Therefore turning assistants[3] will become mandatory. However, placing the driver better and giving him more field of view is preferred. [1] https://www.mercedes-benz-trucks.com/de_DE/models/econic.html https://www.mercedes-benz-trucks.com/de_DE/models/econic.htm... [2] https://mbs.mercedes-benz.com/de/special-trucks/feuerwehr/ausgesprochen-vielseitig.html https://mbs.mercedes-benz.com/de/special-trucks/feuerwehr/au... [3] https://www.mercedes-benz-trucks.com/de_DE/models/eeconic.html https://www.mercedes-benz-trucks.com/de_DE/models/eeconic.ht... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_assistant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_assistant but better see German version : https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbiegeassistent https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbiegeassistent

goodpoint 4y ago

FTA: > has Volta designed a safer truck for urban transport simply because European companies are more enlightened and civilized on these issues than Americans? [...] yes, culture matters

orangepurple 4y ago

How will the spike in global lithium prices affect the ability of these vehicle manufacturers to deliver their cars and trucks?

MisterTea 4y ago

This is another ill informed piece from a truck hater. We have high visibility low cab forward class 7 trucks already: Mack MR & LR, Peterbilt LCF, Freightliner Condor, etc. Bartlett dairy in NYC runs Mack MR's and DSNY sanitation trucks are all LR's plus the postal service runs MR tractors in the city. I don't understand why he thinks these Voltas will replace 53's trailers. First problem is 53's are fine for transport outside of NYC meaning the carrier would have to designate NYC a special destination. No carrier is going to send a volta 3000 miles to NYC to deliver a few tons of freight. This means when you get a NYC freight quote you are going to pay for two shipments: from the destination to a local transfer dock and from that dock to the NYC destination. And does each carrier have their own class 7 fleet and hub or is that yet another carrier in the mix? This adds cost and complexity to the supply chain. Freight cost is insane right now thanks to the global mess humanity is currently in. I had to buy parts for a machine that were light weight but 10 feet long (the wood skid was heavier than the parts.) Parts cost $310, freight was $650 and came on a 53'. If a transfer was involved requiring humpers and a second driver I'm sure it would add another few hundred dollars. Of course mr truck hater doesn't care because he doesn't directly see the impacts from his cushy twitter job.

schmeckleberg 4y ago
Would a "truck hater" voluntarily describe a truck as "cool"? I think it is possible to respond to a more charitable interpretation of the post than the one that you are responding to. Tell me some more about your 10 foot long parts that were outweighed by their wooden skid? Would you still have bought them and had them shipped if freight had cost a few hundred dollars more? Genuinely interested. Were the parts for your business? An employer's business? A personal project? Honestly interested. A joy shared is a joy multiplied. A pain shared is a pain divided.

maxekman 4y ago

Shameless plug for my employer Einride. We are building a almost driverless truck (AD with remote safety driver). Really cool company to work for. https://www.einride.tech/pod https://www.einride.tech/pod Edit: Driverless clarification.

pvillano 4y ago

Would it be possible for a startup to create a product with [positive externalities] and lobby for companies to be required to create their version of the product with [positive externalities], instead of incumbents lobbying to get away with [negative externalities]

cullinap 4y ago

is there a taxi-drivers driving badly twitter?

tim333 4y ago

It's good London is doing something. It came after an awful lot of news headlines of cyclists killed by trucks, or lorries as us Brits call them eg https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/18/sixth-london-cyclist-killed-camberwell-lorry https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/18/sixth-london... Leading to https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/sep/30/lorries-face-london-ban-plans-improve-safety-cyclists#:~:text=Khan's%20office%20said%20there%20were,the%20cyclist%20deaths%20involving%20HGVs.&text=Overall%2C%20lorries%20were%20connected%20to,and%2022.5%25%20of%20pedestrian%20deaths https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/sep/30/lorries-face...