AirFlow StarShip Initial Reveal

[freebeard]

Each individual member of the platoon will have a cone of probability re-calculated constantly about where it can get safely, sort of a flight envelope. As soon as the first vehicle senses problems, the last vehicle will be looking for off-ramps, shoulders or run-off areas.

It'll work great until they platoon across a bridge that was built in the 1940s with certain assumptions about traffic density. Then they'll all go at once.

[JockoT]

From the platooning tests I have read about, here in the UK, the trucks are never that close together that if one truck has a fatal stop, then those behind are unable to stop safely. They are always spaced a safe distance apart, just as good drivers have always done. The real danger is that the normal truck with a driver, behind the platoon, barrels on into them. Especially if that driver is from Eastern Europe!

[Xist]

Originally Posted by freebeard

It works for NASCAR and they are competitors.

I only regret that I have but one thanks to give for this comment.

[freebeard]

It's a frickin' anarchy.

[ctmaybury@yahoo.com]

It seems like the only advantage of a train of trucks would be aerodynamics or drafting. You space them out too far and what is the point.

Personally, I would prefer to see a driver in control of a 30 ton vehicle moving over a mile a minute. I like sci fi. It's great to read or watch, but I don't think we're ready for driverless vehicles. Computers, sensors, plugs and harnesses are the least reliable components in our trucks.

[seifrob]

... have you seen this Autoblog article?

https://www.autoblog.com/2017/11/19/...ker-questions/

[seifrob]

Originally Posted by JockoT

According to Elon Musk's figures, from the presentation on Friday, a platoon of his trucks will be able to transport goods even cheaper than a train.
<snip>

... of course it will. Even now trucks are cheaper than trains, at least in our part of Europe. While railway companies do have to pay for rails, semaphores and all the infrastructure completely by themselves, trucking companies do not, as roads are built and repaired from our taxes.

[freebeard]

Interesting article. The points seem valid.

Tax structures may cause trucks to be cheaper than trains, but how much per mile to put a Hyperloop tube down a freeway median?

[seifrob]

... I have no idea, but probably lots. How much did that test track cost?

(your signature line - isn´t it old Fremen´s wisdom?)

[freebeard]

Nor I. Prototype vs production over an increase in efficiency. I'm thinking standard 20ft shipping containers with cylindrical seals on the ends, in a packet-switched network.

I'm experimenting with sig lines. It has multiple levels of meaning; one is about Christopher Walken dancing.