GM self towing

[jasin1]

Gonna be interesting on the road in the near future

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWLBD6NJMFQ

[skunked again]

Yes, gonna be interesting. My brother helps a guy with farming, said he makes a perimeter lap of the field, lines up the first pass, hits a button, the computers takes over, he disengages it, turns, lines back up, etc. Granted, that's in a field.
Wasn't something like this for vehicles experimented with many years ago? Using a special marking paint on the road, and sensors on the vehicle?

[Badbart56]

There have been similar attempts at doing this in the trucking industry. One company I worked for in the past equips their trucks with lane departure and imminent collision sensors that react to preset parameters. It cost approximately 25 grand to outfit these trucks and I'm not impressed (nor are many others) with the results.

One such truck would pick up reflections from DOT reflective tape on underpasses and would lock down the brakes. It did that three times one night. I called dispatch and told them if it happened again I would tell them what mile marker to come pick up the truck. Had it been raining or icy I would have lost control.

Several companies are working toward a goal of driverless trucks. No doubt the industry is relishing the idea of the profits to be made if they didn't have to pay drivers. But several have abandoned the idea as, in my opinion, they are light years away from making this venture safe enough to turn these 80K pound behemoths loose on the highways.

Besides, even if the GPS could direct the truck to an address, who is going to maneuver the rig to a dock? That is where the skill comes in. They couldn't put enough sensors on a truck and 53 foot trailer to be able to back into a real world dock without causing damage to other vehicles and/or property. And who is going to fuel them up? Do the pre-trip/post-trip inspections, etc.?

I don't see this happening anytime soon. One good lawsuit and this dream will likely be over. Doubtful number one that insurance companies would be willing to go out on that limb (if the companies could afford it) and two, DOT has not said whether they would sign off on it, and they have the final say. The ones they are experimenting with now have to have at least one CDL class A driver onboard, so what are the savings?

[sourdough]

This attempt at AI for driving a truck is just what it seems; a lazy way for those that would prefer to play with their smartphones while driving, have a crutch and then someone/something to blame when things go wrong...which they will. If a person doesn't have the time or ability to pay attention to things happening on the road while driving....they should be off the road. Pretty simple.

[notanlines]

As a motorcycle rider this talk of driverless vehicles scares me more than deer at dusk in Wisconsin.

[flybouy]

Trains are the "oldest" form of mechanized transportation. They operate on wheels that ride on rails. Those rails are monitored and controlled by humans. So why do they need a "driver"? Some very limited private rail systems are automated like airports, Disneyworld, etc. but no others are. And, to go a step further they have a "dead man's switch" to ensure the driver is still part of the system.

Fully automated auto's still haven't been perfected and some lives have been lost during its development. Will it ever happen? I'm confident it will. It's just a matter of time and money.

[travelin texans]

We just bought a new Kia Sorento that if you have all the sensors, switches, cruise control set & whatever other buttons pushed it will all but drive itself.
It will stay in lane, with cc set it will back off if too close, it will change the speed up/down depending on what's posted with cc set, the lights brighten/dim automatically at night, it's got so many bells, whistles & doodads I'll never figure out most of them.
I believe the day is coming that there won't be a steering or front seats, you'll get in the back & tell it where you want to go & boom you're off. Why else do we need electric vehicles, if they're driverless there wouldn't be anyone to get out to fuel up a real vehicle.