DALL-E prompt produced a road with a semi on the wrong side of a no-pass divider line. Love it.
Anyway, the speed doesn't have to be 50mph. Do 40mph on late night trips. More EV range/gas efficient anyway.
The deceleration would likely be helped by an EV drivetrain where regen and braking can contribute to stopping. Likewise the high-torque EV motors can accelerate a semi far more manageably.
Emergency/Fault stops should likely be handled by convergent infrastructure, or only using routes with sufficient shoulders.
How many scene understandings can be done with on-demand manual takeover? Highways generally have some of the best cell/data networks, and again, convergent evolution of infrastructure.
Sensor distance can probably be improved with the concept of a "scout car". Likely automated trucks would drive in formation (to draft to get better efficiency), a lead car can scout and provide additional effective distance. This car doesn't even need to be a full size car, it could be a smaller teardrop-optimized drone. And if the drone crashes or faults, the following train automatically pulls to the side.
Trucking routes can benefit from neural nets tailored to repetitive navigations of the route. No handling general queries, the tractors (or the control system utilized) isn't driving "a general truck". It is driving from Minneapolis to Chicago.
I think I disagree with the article. It assumes too fast for the vehicle, too general of routes.
Oh, my final disagreement may be the total size of the vehicle. Once automated vehicles can drive at distance ... do you need a massive tractor trailer, or can you instead use more capable (and more cheaply mass produced) vans or smaller form factors? The industry is what it is in current state and a trailer ~= a container, so I guess I see why that wouldn't be a go.
Anyway, the speed doesn't have to be 50mph. Do 40mph on late night trips. More EV range/gas efficient anyway.
The deceleration would likely be helped by an EV drivetrain where regen and braking can contribute to stopping. Likewise the high-torque EV motors can accelerate a semi far more manageably.
Emergency/Fault stops should likely be handled by convergent infrastructure, or only using routes with sufficient shoulders.
How many scene understandings can be done with on-demand manual takeover? Highways generally have some of the best cell/data networks, and again, convergent evolution of infrastructure.
Sensor distance can probably be improved with the concept of a "scout car". Likely automated trucks would drive in formation (to draft to get better efficiency), a lead car can scout and provide additional effective distance. This car doesn't even need to be a full size car, it could be a smaller teardrop-optimized drone. And if the drone crashes or faults, the following train automatically pulls to the side.
Trucking routes can benefit from neural nets tailored to repetitive navigations of the route. No handling general queries, the tractors (or the control system utilized) isn't driving "a general truck". It is driving from Minneapolis to Chicago.
I think I disagree with the article. It assumes too fast for the vehicle, too general of routes.
Oh, my final disagreement may be the total size of the vehicle. Once automated vehicles can drive at distance ... do you need a massive tractor trailer, or can you instead use more capable (and more cheaply mass produced) vans or smaller form factors? The industry is what it is in current state and a trailer ~= a container, so I guess I see why that wouldn't be a go.