Driverless trucks with no humans on board will soon cruise Texas highways if three startup firms have their way, despite objections from critics who say financial pressures, not safety, is behind the timetable.
  •  paris   ( @paris@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) English
    14•6 months ago

    And since they’re travelling along predetermined routes without human intervention, we could even give them their own dedicated lane that’s more direct. That would free up traffic for normal people and streamline deliveries for these trucks.

    And while we’re at it, if they’re already going on dedicated roads, why not make those roads more efficient? Rubber on asphalt damage is expensive to repair. Steel wheels on steel tracks are even more efficient and better to maintain.

    And since steel tracks can handle so much more wear, we could actually make the trucks super duper overpowered and have them tow like 100 boxes at a time instead of just one or two.

    And since steel tracks are conductive, we could actually electrify those rails to power the super duper overpowered track truck so it doesn’t have to stop to refill for gas. Now we’re combatting climate change at the same time.

    At scale, humans are a lot like cargo actually. We could have dedicated track trucks to move large amounts of people from core parts of cities to other core parts of the same or other cities. Then we could reduce car and plane usage too.

    Track trucks is a bit of a dumb name though, so maybe we should call it something more relevant. There’s an Old French word “trahiner” that means “to pull/draw” so maybe something like that? Trainer? Or maybe just train? I think train sounds cool.

    Too bad nothing like this exists or will ever exist 😔

    •  Kevin Herrera   ( @kherge@beehaw.org ) English
      1•6 months ago

      Great idea. Now we need to address the politics of who is paying for the new infrastructure, who will be collecting taxes on it across multiple boundaries (each with their own interests), and how to time share the tracks with others. Then we need to update regulations to help mitigate disaster scenarios in cases where hazardous materials are transported and compromised.

      I am not dunking on the use of trains, that should absolutely be done. It’s just not as straight forward to implement when businesses think “this is already here (freeway), and it’s cheaper and easier.”

    •  CanadaPlus   ( @CanadaPlus@futurology.today ) English
      1•6 months ago

      I don’t think anybody’s mentioned that we actually have road infrastructure built, too. The US Eisenhower highway system is still a candidate for most expensive project in human history as of last I checked. Tearing it all up for rails would take a long time to earn itself back.