5 ms·

Coupling / decoupling at high frequencies would be a challenge for sure - but seems achievable in a world of fully autonomous vehicles that can communicate.

• bobthepanda 2y ago
  Right now to ensure absolute safety trains are mechanically coupled, which can't be done while moving, and takes a few minutes to do safely. I believe most AV convoys propose virtual coupling to get around this, but the failure scenario where something in the convoy comes to a sudden stop and the other things in the convoy don't, is pretty gnarly. Modern trains have a bunch of mandated safety measures in their mechanical coupling to prevent nasty things like jackknifing, or even worse, telescoping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescoping_(rail_cars) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescoping_(rail_cars)
  • 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago
    This is speculation but I wonder if you could have cars couple with "cat whiskers" that are mechanical but not load bearing. so you don't need to rely on wireless comms for coordination
    • bobthepanda 2y ago
      I’m not sure what load bearing means in this context. Generally speaking mechanical coupling takes a while because you really, really do not want an errant car to detach during its journey. In the worst possible case scenario, a rear carriage has decoupled from a train and then the following one has crashed into said carriage. https://localtvkstu.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/crews-respond-to-derailed-trax-train-officials-say/ https://localtvkstu.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/crews-respond-t...