Peloton unveiled its highly automated truck driving system, which is key to many trucks, at the Automated Vehicies Symposium in Orlando last week. With her help, more than one truck rides on which sensors, cameras and software are installed that guide him along the deserted highway.
This is a leash system that drives two trucks following one after another on the road. In the second car there really is no driver, and here innovations appear. We will consider them in more detail in the article.
Caravan
Peloton calls its system “auto-follow.” It is similar to its predecessor PlatoonPro - a hardware-software complex for level 1 automation that connects two trucks and allows the slave driver to remove his foot from gas and brakes.
But since it is still level 1, the driver must keep his hands on the steering wheel and look at the road. The system introduced last week is the autonomy of the 4th level truck, which is capable of driving a second car without a driver, since it follows the truck with the driver behind the wheel (this is called autonomy 0 or 1 level).
This caravan is two separate (but connected via software) vehicles: in the first there is a driver who controls the car, and in the second you can see only an empty driver's seat. A distance of 55 feet (16.7 m) is maintained between the machines, and the lead driver essentially controls both trucks.
Standalone device
Before the demonstration of innovation, CEO Josh Switks talked about what it means to the industry. He said that this system would be good for communication between vehicles and human drivers, since robots cannot fully master driving, but only work with people and self-driving technologies.
He noted that this stand-alone device can cope with a large number of circumstances and ensure the safety of the second truck. There is also a driver who is only in the first truck.
Many autonomous vehicles are limited to certain roads, such as highways or basic transport highways. They can only work in sunny and dry weather, often rely on the driver.
The symposium united the automotive autonomous industry. It said last week that most self-driving situations still remain unresolved. In the USA, security operators still drive self-propelled cars on public roads, but Peloton changes this when the trucks connected by the program constantly send data to each other.
New transit options
Meanwhile, autonomous services are slowly developing. But autonomous cars drive on public roads and carry passengers, since they work in limited controlled conditions on given routes.
This month, a new route to Salt Lake City appeared, followed by the EasyMile electric six-seater bus. Over the next year, buses will appear that will travel around shopping malls, business parks, and university campuses. Everyone will be able to see how the new transit options work with transport systems, for example transporting people from a light rail stop to an office building. Thanks to this innovation, a person does not have to drive a personal car.
Security is at the heart of all this, as Uber made clear at the symposium, presenting its new industry guidelines. A year after the fatal accident involving a car with the Uber system, the company returned to testing and development. But first, experts want to set strict safety standards.