|
Sort of related/unrelated. We were visiting my cousin who drives flatbed trucks usually full of MDF or plywood while he happened to be stopping at a local mill while they loaded his truck. I couldn't believe how long it took to both load and then tarp the load, what a waste of productive driving time IMO. So a truck that could "swallow" a load (OMG I need to rethink that line!) may not help aerowise but could lead to better productivity. The open sided trailer with tarp sides would help quicken the tarping, which seemed to take an hour for the guy ahead of my cousin, but then it forces an aerodynamic height that is higher than necessary for heavy loads like metal and plywood that can't be stacked that high. It would be cool if the trailer that swallowed the load (there it is again) could automatically collapse or adjust itself to the best possible shape.
What will probably happen sooner are trucks either self driving or computer assisted that could from road trains driving inches apart. Then they could draft like a freight train on rails, they could even add a specific boat tailed trailer to bring up the rear or a special cab leaving all the other trucks to be as boxy as they want, actually the boxier the better so they had less gaps.
|