Lorries purposely trying to trick autopilot?

[Medved_77]

As a lorry driver

As a lorry driver, does the Semi excite you? Do you think haulage is ready to go fully electric?

 

[Billbrown1982]

As a lorry driver, does the Semi excite you? Do you think haulage is ready to go fully electric?

Right now that i've stopped laughing at that question.....im so immature sometimes.

The technological side of things excites me. The more buttons and screens in a truck the better for me. Our newest Mercedes trucks are pretty cool, but they have no wing mirrors, instead of you have screens inside the cab and they are having...mixed results. Utterly useless when your trying to negotiate a tight space when its pitch black.

Most of the firms I have ever worked for, the trucks are on the go 24/7 - as soon as you get back there is another driver waiting to jump in and head off - so I wonder how the logistics will work of charging. These firms would need double the amount of vehicles so they could have half on charge while the other half are off working - and seeing as how you are generally already packed in like sardines in the yard, i'm not sure how this will work.

I'm also quite worried about autonomous driving, which I know we are still a long way off of, as if an autonomous car goes wrong, someone can get seriously hurt or killed but if a 44 tonne truck goes wrong.....it could be total carnage. But, when that time comes, drivers like me will be out of a job.

While I don't see fully autonomous trucks coming anytime soon in the UK, I do see the convoy system coming in, which means your truck will essentially auto follow the one in front of you and you will just plod around the M25 and take control when you come off at your exit.

Which ultimately will just be an excuse for wages to get slashed further as you are only doing half the job.

But ultimately I'm feeling quite positive about the changes ahead.

 

[Mr H]

And everyone knows that for an n-lane motorway there will always be n-1 lorries side by side, not giving a *sugar* about the miles of traffic behind them.
I don’t think they’re generally professional nor considerate and I wish we could have more freight by rail, lorries are the bane of the public motorway system.

How many railheads are there at your local Asda? Don’t like trucks then don’t buy stuff

 

[MrBadger]

While I don't see fully autonomous trucks coming anytime soon in the UK, I do see the convoy system coming in, which means your truck will essentially auto follow the one in front of you and you will just plod around the M25 and take control when you come off at your exit.

I nearly got involved in evaluation trials for that - decided to leave the company instead (not because of). I remember some of the trial objectives - how other road users would deal with a long platoon of trucks especially at junctions, and the question of road debris being kicked up by the truck up front. I'm not sure whatever came of the project - never heard anything about it in the press (I got the impression that heavy public criticism was likely) although on a brief return trip to the old office I did see the project being promoted. At the time, only a limited number of trucks had the required hardware required (basically LKA and comms) but I would imagine that LKA has probably started to get introduced on trucks.

 

[ACarneiro]

How many railheads are there at your local Asda? Don’t like trucks then don’t buy stuff

Oh, please.
I don’t like inconsiderate truck drivers and I was suggesting that more freight should go by rail but anyone with even a room temperature IQ would understand that would only work for the long (motorway length) distances, not the last few miles deliveries. Lorries are an unfortunate necessity of moving goods about, that’s not in dispute.

 

[Mr H]

Oh, please.
and I was suggesting that more freight should go by rail but anyone with even a room temperature IQ would understand that would only work for the long (motorway length) distances, not the last few miles deliveries. Lorries are an unfortunate necessity of moving goods about, that’s not in dispute.

There are far more inconsiderate people in cars and vans than trucks, tarring all drivers with the same brush by saying "I don’t think they’re generally professional nor considerate" really doesn't help matters, which you've now changed to "I don’t like inconsiderate truck drivers" well neither do i but they aren't all bad and suggesting so does every one a disservice.

 

[ACarneiro]

There are far more inconsiderate people in cars and vans than trucks, tarring all drivers with the same brush by saying "I don’t think they’re generally professional nor considerate" really doesn't help matters, which you've now changed to "I don’t like inconsiderate truck drivers" well neither do i but they aren't all bad and suggesting so does every one a disservice.

Fair point. I stand by my previous comment, then. Most do seem to be inconsiderate.

 

[Billbrown1982]

Oh, please.
I don’t like inconsiderate truck drivers and I was suggesting that more freight should go by rail but anyone with even a room temperature IQ would understand that would only work for the long (motorway length) distances, not the last few miles deliveries. Lorries are an unfortunate necessity of moving goods about, that’s not in dispute.

Try telling that to the people of Kent

 

[Norm Belin]

I have been driving along the M25 today when a lorry (lane 2), who was overtaking another lorry, purposely moved into my lane (lane 3) just as I passed him. The road was dry, straight and wide - he had no reason to move over.

I anticipated that a lorry potentially could upset autopilot so I had my foot ready at the power pedal. And sure enough, it braked.

Do other road users go out of their way to trick our systems? I had to smile at his attempt, but it is not funny and not necessary ... if he did it on purpose of course; otherwise, no problem lol

Idiots and jealous people that want to screw up the very kind of people they want to be are in every country and walk of life. Best to ignore them where possible and not to waste time complaining.

 

[Neilman]

It's the M25 'ring' all too many drivers on it and within it play the lane jump dance - if they want to get in your lane irrespective of available space to do so they will push in then when settled will flash their hazard lights at you!
When you see what they're about to do even if, typically, they're not signalling you can pull back a little to avoid collision but TACC will be very frightened and over compensate with the braking.
They get away with it far too often and it doesn't matter what the weather conditions are either.
Leave a gap of more than one car length and you'll be 'gazumped'

 

[Mr Miserable]

I have yet to prove it, but whenever I overtake a curtain-sided HGV I get ready for a possible phantom braking event.
Just as well there aren't many curtain-sided HGV's on the road.....
or Answer B...

 

[hgmichna]

I had an odd experience a few weeks ago in Berlin. I drove in the rightmost lane of an 8-lane street with few cars around.

A taxi drove to the left of me, a bit behind, for a little while. Then the taxi accelerated and turned right very close in front of me, while I continued to drive straight.

My Tesla was on autopilot and, of course, braked sufficiently to avoid a collision. The whole interaction was smooth and not frightening, because the autopilot reacted so well.

The event made me think whether that maneuver was perhaps intentional. Then the thought occurred to me that the taxi driver may have driven closely to the left to peep at my screen and check whether autopilot was enabled. Of course we will never know for sure.

By the way, lorries stray from their lanes all the time. One or two feet over the line are common. They could really do with an autopilot.

 

[Billbrown1982]

I had an odd experience a few weeks ago in Berlin. I drove in the rightmost lane of an 8-lane street with few cars around.

A taxi drove to the left of me, a bit behind, for a little while. Then the taxi accelerated and turned right very close in front of me, while I continued to drive straight.

My Tesla was on autopilot and, of course, braked sufficiently to avoid a collision. The whole interaction was smooth and not frightening, because the autopilot reacted so well.

The event made me think whether that maneuver was perhaps intentional. Then the thought occurred to me that the taxi driver may have driven closely to the left to peep at my screen and check whether autopilot was enabled. Of course we will never know for sure.

By the way, lorries stray from their lanes all the time. One or two feet over the line are common. They could really do with an autopilot.

Dunno, if that was over here I would have said normal behaviour. I'm ALWAYS getting overtaken by cars (admittedly in my lorry) that break their neck to get past me and then cut me up to get off at the junction...I mean is it really worth the risk? I think its more the taxi not paying attention and just poodling along and then realising they wanted to come off and instead of being sensible and moving in behind you, they chose the other approach.

As for lorries straying, can't argue with that. Little wind in the wrong direction, or a badly stacked load coupled with a camber in the road, yup i'm moving. I'd actually LOVE some kind of lane control on motorways, but it would have to be able to compensate for sudden shifts in direction without yanking the wheel back in harshly.