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Road Trains, the future is here, driving while sleeping, emailing or putting on makeup
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The workings of a road train
The European Union (EU) is working diligently to bring the future of road travel with ease to the public now. Road trains are a kind of carpooling system whereas drivers would get behind a lead vehicle and be linked up via wireless sensors, a navigation system, and a transmitter/receiver unit to communicate with the vehicle at the front of the line. The lead driver would monitor the other vehicles which would allow drivers to just sit back and do whatever they choose—eat, sleep, read, put on makeup or even email while traveling along the highway. Up to eight vehicles of various kinds (trucks, buses, cars, vans) could hitch up to the lead driver.
The EU study will be funded under their Framework 7 research plan Sartre (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) and will be aimed at folks who road travel long distances on a daily basis.
"The goal is to try and introduce a step change in transport methods. We're looking at what it would take to get platooning on public highways without making big changes to the public highways themselves. Each of the vehicles will have their own control and software monitoring system. There may well be a platoon sensor envelope that collates information and presents it to the lead vehicle so it can understand what is happening around all the vehicles," explains Tom Robinson, who is the coordinator of the new project
The road train technology trial is set to run for 3 years and according to EU researchers will slash fuel consumption by up to 20 percent per vehicle, reduce travel times and minimize congestion.
--Car Chick
Do you think a plan like this could work in the good ole U.S.A.? Share your thoughts.
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