Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

cnn.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

291–300 of 363 posts

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#291

Post by bee_rider »

anigbrowl wrote: post #99
EvanAnderson wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like there's an aerodynamic advantage to the platoons. Placing an autonomous truck in the lead of one of these platoons, down the road, seems like a reasonable "upgrade" strategy.

Right up until there's an accident and the lead truck suddenly has to slam on the brakes. Depending on the length of the 'platoon' and traffic density, that could get really messy really fast.

All the trucks should have their own set of brakes, so the stopping distance should be similar for all of them, right?

Unless the front truck is actually hitting something, causing it to slow down more than the following trucks (and then quickly turn into a pancake).

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#292

Post by Dildonics4All »

recursivedoubts wrote: post #56
EvanAnderson wrote: post #32

There's also a trial of "platooning" of driverless trucks on I-70 in Ohio and Indiana: https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbishop1/2025/04/24/ease-... A "drivered" lead truck is leading one or more driverless trucks in this case. I drive the stretch of highway these trucks are on fairly regularly. I don't know that I've seen a group of them yet but I'm keeping my eye out. I'm probably just showing my age, but I like…

next level would be to hook these "platoons" together physically and then centralize the propulsion in a super efficient package. And then we could move them off the highways and onto specialized "tracks" that guarantee they don't deviate from the planned routes. speculative, alien technology, admittedly, but some day our scientists will figure it out i bet!

[dead]

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#293

Post by randunel »

IMTDb wrote: post #238
recursivedoubts wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

next level would be to hook these "platoons" together physically and then centralize the propulsion in a super efficient package. And then we could move them off the highways and onto specialized "tracks" that guarantee they don't deviate from the planned routes. speculative, alien technology, admittedly, but some day our scientists will figure it out i bet!

Yeah! Then those same engineers will notice how much single point of failure that model leads to, and how rigid that is. So they will be looking to leverage the existing much denser, much flexible, more connected and redundant network that exists alongside those rare tracks. It’s almost like this evolution did not happen before.

Imagine having rails instead of roads, and roads instead of rails. The same argument would apply, only roads would lead to less efficiency overall.

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#294

Post by lnsru »

throwaway48476 wrote: post #183
LorenPechtel wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have two examples to look at: Waymo, which appears to be doing an excellent job of handling it. Their robotaxis consistently seem to have a better track record than humans (although it's possible the limits put on them taint the comparison.) Cruise, which had a whole bunch of problems with edge cases and last I knew wasn't allowed to operate anymore. I'd share the road with a Waymo truck (not that their system can…

Once the technology has been proven it should be possible for fast followers to catch up. We can't let the market be captured by whoever passes the bar first.

But that’s the winner takes it all situation thanks to software patents in US. The first one patents everything and the rest can catch up later or think about really different approach.

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#295

Post by mtnGoat »

rekenaut wrote: post #235
pcarolan wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can. It’s called multimodal and basically is just picking a shipping container off a train car with a crane and putting it on a truck platform or a ship. 1 platform supports all modes.

This works great for finished consumer goods, but bulk cargo that makes up a significant portion of both rail and truck traffic like grain, liquid products (crude oil, gasoline, vinyl chloride), ore, etc. have very specialized transports that don't work well with the existing multimodal system.

Most of those have their own specialized transport systems that work well already though.

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#296

Post by JKCalhoun »

EvanAnderson wrote: post #32

There's also a trial of "platooning" of driverless trucks on I-70 in Ohio and Indiana: https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbishop1/2025/04/24/ease-... A "drivered" lead truck is leading one or more driverless trucks in this case. I drive the stretch of highway these trucks are on fairly regularly. I don't know that I've seen a group of them yet but I'm keeping my eye out. I'm probably just showing my age, but I like…

Completely driverless and I wonder when we’ll read about the first case of truck cargo piracy.

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#297

Post by lnsru »

simoncion wrote: post #214
kgwxd wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

110% transparency. We have no clue how they actually tested, how they cheated, what they're lying about, and all the other nefarious BS corporations constantly pull. A single person could turn all of these things into Decepticon in seconds. We need to know that that is intentionally made impossible, and no one will ever make it possible in secret. It could give someone the power of a global army.

> A single person could turn all of these things into Decepticon in seconds. ... It could give someone the power of a global army. We're talking about an ordinary semi truck with attached trailer and a bevy of sensors. This isn't a war machine. The worst thing that can happen here is the same thing that can happen with an inattentive or exhausted driver.

It’s indeed a war machine. Even going at slowish 60 mph. Trucks go through all barriers and 20 passenger cars over before stopping. The pictures of accidents with asleep truck drivers are shocking.

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#298

Post by morsch »

Waterluvian wrote: post #286
john2x wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would piracy become a problem in this case? Pirates would only have to deal with one lonely driver to get to multipe trucks’ worth of goods.

The return of the highwayman is exactly what this century needs next. But in seriousness, what’s the next step? You drive off with five semi trucks worth of stuff? It seems like it’s just a worse way to steal trucks. Especially autonomous trucks that are going to be very well-instrumented and remote accessible.

I mean. https://a-american.com/land-pirates-robbing-from-la-trains/

Re: Driverless semis have started running regular longhaul routes

#299

Post by JKCalhoun »

adrr wrote: post #266
xracy wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect that's why a competent government might invest more in these tracks as they might contribute a lot to delivery infrastructure. Especially in a consumer-based economy where shipping goods is important.

US is already the largest shipper of freight by train in terms of shipped tonnage and also total tracks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transportation_in_the_Uni...

Not a very interesting data point since it doesn’t account for nation area, utilization, etc.
Post reply on HN