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Tesla Looking To Start Testing Autonomous Semi In 'Platoon' Formation (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Tesla is developing a long-haul, electric semi-truck that can drive itself and move in "platoons" that automatically follow a lead vehicle, and is getting closer to testing a prototype, according to an email discussion of potential road tests between the car company and the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), seen by Reuters. The correspondence and meeting show that Tesla is putting self-driving technology into the electric truck it has said it plans to unveil in September, and is advancing toward real-life tests, potentially moving it forward in a highly competitive area of commercial transport also being pursued by Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] and Alphabet Inc's Waymo. After announcing intentions a year ago to produce a heavy-duty electric truck, Musk tweeted in April that the semi-truck would be revealed in September, and repeated that commitment at the company's annual shareholder meeting in June, but he has never mentioned any autonomous-driving capabilities. An email exchange in May and June between Tesla and Nevada DMV representatives included an agenda for a June 16 meeting, along with the Nevada Department of Transportation, to discuss testing of two prototype trucks in Nevada, according to the exchange seen by Reuters.
Mercy sakes, I think we got ourselves a convoy...
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
I'm sure they didn't think of adding a feature that could see a turn signal and let a vehicle in.
Pack it up boys, some Slashdotter just destroyed Tesla's business plan.
sheesh, years and years of research into self driving vehicles.. billions upon billions of dollars spent.. and we're just now reaching the level of the soccer mom?
From TFA: "If trucks at the back of the formation were able to automatically follow a lead vehicle, that could cut the need for drivers. "
In a tight enough formation it would also reduce wind resistance, greatly reducing energy consumption in following vehicles. Additionally, by alternating lead vehicles, total distance between battery charges would be vastly improved. This is how bird flocks can cover great distances.
But the result is that you have reinvented the freight train, with all the disadvantages of expensive energy robbing rubber tires, steep hills, city traffic, and the need to share the road with people like me. Look out!
...omphaloskepsis often...
Truck cab ~17000 - 22000 pounds. Battery would need to be 4600-6000 pounds for same milage
If you want to actually take a full load of ~50,000 pounds (plus 10,000 for trailer) you're looking at around 80,000 pounds total weight.
The battery would need to be around 22,000 pounds for the same 315 mile range, assuming everything else is equal (yeah right). That's the same weight as the current heavyweight cabs right now.
Something doesn't seem right, so this convoy effect may be what is required to get an equivalent range, by dropping the drag significantly for all but the first cab.
And Tesla aren't first on this anyway, Volvo have been working on this for a long time.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.