Glass Half Empty

From time to time, I am called upon to explain some of the aspects of my research to friends and family. I'm working on drive-by-wire systems, I tell them, where there's no longer a physical connection between the controls of a vehicle and the devices being controlled. Almost always, I get a negative response back. Computers always crash, they tell me, how can you be sure your system won't just freeze and leave me without control of my vehicle at sixty miles an hour? (modern dbw systems are multiply redundant, certified by international safety organisations, provably safe, before they're ever considered for use on a vehicle.) In an emergency, the system won't let me pull the steering wheel as hard as I can and avoid the child/pet/tree that's unaccountably appeared in front of me. (First, good luck hanging on to the steering wheel when you're trying to command that kind of change in direction and speed, and second, most modern dbw systems won't let you get into that situation, never mind getting out of it.) It's pretty reliable. I've not yet had anyone see a drive-by-wire system in a positive light, only ever neutral or negative, despite the fact that we've trusted our passenger aircraft to identical systems for twenty-five-odd years now.

Well, I'm going to take advantage of a recent news article to present one of the positive sides of drive-by-wire technology. The technology is known as "platooning", or the "road train" concept, and it's being pioneered by a group of European engineers including members of a local engineering consultancy my lab works with now and then. Essentially, it involves a group of highly-skilled professionally-trained drivers running around the trunk roads of the country, driving modern drive-by-wire vehicles with a few custom modifications. Another modern drive-by-wire vehicle can then locate said driver and negotiate to couple on to the back of their platoon. The joining car disengages driver input, synchronises its control system with that of the platoon, and then pulls up to within a couple of inches of the rear bumper of the preceding car: from that point on, the entire platoon maneuvers like one long, flexible vehicle under the control of the lead driver. If and when a driver wishes to leave the platoon they can signal the system, which will increase the distance around their car, maneuver out of the platoon, then instruct the cars that were previously either end of them to close up together. At no point is there any physical connection: the entire system is electronic, wireless and RADAR based.

The potential advantages of this system are significant. First, because the cars are so close together, they behave aerodynamically like one vehicle, not several. This results in significantly less drag, and a fuel saving of up to 20% per vehicle (highest for those in neither the front nor back positions). Drivers in the platoon need not concentrate on driving while coupled, they can nap, eat, drink, work, talk to friends or business associates... Previous versions of the platooning concept required sensors and broadcast beacons to be integrated into the roadway, which is pretty unrealistic in the short and medium term, at least. SARTRE, the specific platooning system on which Ricardo are working, requires simply that the vehicles in the platoon have the required modifications, making it a system that could potentially be deployed nationwide in a few months with enough research effort and testing.

The Frankenstein complex will always be a problem for engineers in mine and allied fields, but it's worth bearing in mind that a lot of us drive cars using the technology we build. We're not always perfect, but we're not suicidal: if we trust it, knowing exactly how it works... maybe it's worth something other than a knee-jerk reaction?

The Glass: half-empty | NaBloPoMo: 12/30