Einride, a company based in Gothenburg (Göteborg), Sweden, has a vision that lowers these hurdles slowing the adoption of both alternative energy and self-driving technologies in hauling. The key change? Take the driver out of the vehicle with a hybrid of self-driving and remote control.
Einride plans to have their driverless (windowless, even) T-pods plying the route between Gothenburg and Helsingborg by 2020. The 7-meter (23- feet) long vehicle can carry 15 standard pallets and up to 20 tons. The trucks roll through their highway distances in fully automated mode. But when they near population centers, the T-pods can be put under remote control, with a human managing the navigation.
With no paid personnel on board to be bored and useless during long charging cycles, electric motors begin to make more sense. The T-pods can travel 200 km (124 miles) on a single charge, and stops at charging stations add little to the overall costs of haulage compared to traditional rigs that have down-time during driver resting periods. Remote drivers can simply switch their attention to a different vehicle when one T-pod stops for recharging. Which is a good thing, because even the run up and down the Swedish coastline between Gothenburg and Helsingborg may be a bit out of range without a top-up along the way.
Maybe all those hours playing Starcraft did not go to waste after all--perfect training to be an Einride operator.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by tftp on Wednesday April 19 2017, @05:55AM (1 child)
I think mixing human and automatic input may work.
Yes, but the easiest way to achieve that is by having human drivers who jump behind the wheel at a certain transfer station and complete the route into the city. As long as the truck comes charged for the remaining miles, there is nothing to gain from having remote drivers, and plenty to lose. Why are they removing manual controls? Are they going to save money on the steering wheel, windshield and a chair? Everything is already drive-by-wire, plug your controls in and go. Just the certification of the remote control system will take years: as others said, it *is* a safety critical system, and it will be necessary to prove (not just show once) that the combination of the automatic and remote controls will not incur additional risks. In particular, "just stop" may be a terrible answer to loss of communication if other drivers do not expect the truck to stop on a ramp or on a freeway or in many other places.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @04:24PM
Another approach, if they want to keep the T-pods cabless, is to have a follow-the-leader mode where you slave each one to the one in front, and slave the front one to a human-driven vehicle.
This can be particular sensible if several T-pods are going to the same place, but also works if you can set up a chain of 3 or 4 T-pods, and drop them off at various points on a more-or-less direct route. It doesn't make any kind of sense if you're leading one T-pod at a time