Sorry all for delay in getting back on this topic - it's been a busy week or so recently.
In reply to some of the comments, my own views would still be that this is imaginative and short sighted at the same time. Just because the technology works in a test or experiment, doesn't mean it will work for all long-haul HGV haulage - especially in the UK where we have some of the most congested roads in Europe.
To be honest, I think we here are so dependent on HGVs and diesel engines, our economy would be at serious risk without either. The UK's lack of an integrated transport system may well hamper this novel idea.
The Swedish trials involved Scania, and a 'platoon' of 4 and 5 lorries, with gaps between each lorry of 30 to 40 metres - and each lorry was required to have a driver in each cab. So up to 200 metres of space PLUS the length of each HGV. These were trialled on a run between two Scania factories 500km apart in Sweden and the Netherlands.
This is an interesting read with some of the more recent suggestions: www.eutruckplatooning.com/default.aspx
Watching the video - the gaps are not as described in the trials, and it states "gaps are adjusted" when a car enters the lane between two HGVs in a platoon.
Will the driverless lorry be the arbiter of who can access the gap between a platoon of lorries, or will the car driver simply be able to cut in and disrupt the 'Wi-Fi' signal that keeps the lorries together.
On the technical front, especially, there is a lot of work needed on communications standards and interoperation. Would HGVs with flowers from Holland in 'platoons' driving through Belgium and France to the UK be able to operate through Kent, or would the technology need to be switched off until they reached Cumbria, where there is less traffic.
I don't think this will work well on UK motorways - try it on the M4/M3, to get produce from say Southampton to Covent Garden Market in London, or from Manchester or Heathrow air freight terminals on the M6.
If Mercedes, Scania and DAF are footing all the initial operating costs for trials in the UK, when the Government accepts this as a success, how will the ongoing costs be passed on to us.
Hmmm - back to the railway idea.
