this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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Let’s make more vehicles with a single purpose, this will save the environment. One set of wheels and a motor is not complicated enough. We need two sets of those and A motherfucking I to achieve the same thing farmers did as soon as tractors were invented.
What problems does this bullshit solve?
This is actually almost environmentally motivated. Instead of driving a pickup truck because you need to pull a trailer for your once a year road trip, you get a self driving tow to follow your fuel efficient compact car.
A compact car is already perfectly capable of towing a trailer, no pickup truck needed. Just ask the Dutch.
Yeah, I don't see why this small tow car should be more capable of towing than a small person car...
Look at the size of a fifth wheel truck or tractor, and what a vehicle like that can tow, compared to something like a bus, designed to carry passengers.
Vehicles designed to tow as their primary purpose are very compact.
Dedicated tow vehicles are compact but powerful. Powerful engines and strong drivetrains are expensive, and especially if they're going to run unattended these would have to be powerful.
Otherwise can you imagine having this thing chase your light, fast car up a big hill, slowly falling further behind until it loses connection?
Or roasting itself on a long climb until it boils coolant, blows a head gasket, depletes its batteries or one of the many other things that could happen to an unattended motor working at 100% load.
You'd need a way of slowing down the lead vehicle, for sure.
European towing standards are ridiculous, manufacturers decide what their car can tow. It's one of the only places where the American standard, which requires testing the vehicles and passing actual tests, is much better and safer.
Trailer design is also different with European trailers having their wheels further forward, putting less weight on the hitch, this in turn makes the assembly less stable which is why the speed limit when towing will often be lower.
How fast are you allowed to tow?
Speed limits are the same, towing or not in North America.
Your average compact car, if you're lucky, can tow 1200 kg braked. A midsize SUV can typically tow 2,000+, and a large SUV 3500.
Renting a gizmo like this would possibly be a lot more cost effective than owning a large vehicle that you only use the full capacity of a few times a year.
The only stuff I need to haul is furniture and firewood, and my Yaris with a tow hitch manages that just fine.
I can't think of a scenario where I would ever need to haul anything heavier than 1200 kgs, and if I did, I would just rent a van.
I've come to the conclusion that people like you are genuinely, colossally, thick. You're completely unable to imagine someone leading a different life to yours, and having different needs from a vehicle to you.
For example, a number of people have trailers that they only use a few times a year, caravans for example, and this would be a great solution for them.
Try and expand your mind a little, and see past your own needs.
if you're already renting something to tow a trailer just rent a truck and leave the car at home. if you're moving or something and need to bring your car, put the car on a trailer and pull it behind a box truck. I guarantee it's more efficient having one vehicle towing one trailer than having two vehicles towing one trailer.
That seems far simpler than having a self driving tow bot show up to tow your caravan. Why didn't I think of that?
Everybody is driving SUVs nowadays. Toyota is making SUVs.
It's a way around length limits. Towing a giant-ass rv with a giant-ass boat and a giant-ass trailer full of toys all at once? No need to tow triples and be 180 feet long. Just use some of these bastards.
To be honest it has more utility for commercial trucks
The idea sounds neat for trucks, where one driver could lead a whole fleet of AI trucks in some kind of a road train. But even then there's a whole load of problems e.g. with people overtaking on the oncoming lane or if there's enough space after the intersection for some of the trucks but not all of them. But for RV's? That's dumb AF.
But see the R&D for this could easily go to improving the existing infrastructure of shipping a fleet of trucks single-file along.....
....rails.
What was the name of the law that states that if techbro starts inventing a new form of transportation, they will always come up with shittier form of train given enough time
Thomas the Techbro Theorem
Lmao this is a recurring joke in AdamSomething's video essays.
"Cities of the future" with thousands of suspended, individualized cars on thin rails propelled by their own motors. New shiny dedicated roads with tons of individualized, but linked, passenger cabins. Heck, the hyperloop scam!
But hoo boi don't you dare say train. It sounds so... communal.
Really shows what these lofty designers think of the public they're allegedly designing for.
right?!?!? the only reasonable use for this tech would be to make a train of trucks....but we already have trains....so just make a fuckin train
even if you insist on trucks, just use converter dollies like we already do across the US for double and triple trailers, or hook a bunch of b-train style trailers together like the aussies do for their road trains. physical links are hell of a lot more robust and reliable than some goofy wifi gokarts with a trailer hitch can ever be
That's exactly it. If you need to haul loads of stuff efficiently the train is definitely a better option. But, can't deny there's some compelling pros to this idea if it was actually feasible. The main one is that you wouldn't need to load stuff on and off the train and instead just run the trucks all the way from start to finish. Another one is re-using the existing infrastructure and vehicles. And the last one is that truck warehouses are easier to move than train stations, so they don't impede city's growth as much, but I'm not sure about that one, maybe there's some other options - I'm just salty at my homecity's planning where a train line effectively splits the city in half causing massive congestions at the few available rail crossings.
Early tractors were more domesticated than invented..
Well, it is just an American problem. Here we just tow the caravans with normal cars, most of which have a towball, anyway.
I've seen caravans that weigh over 3,000 kg, good luck towing that with a hatchback.
Well, there is a lot in the "I have seen" category, but e.g. my car could tow a 1800kg trailer, which offers good caravan space for four people.
Yes, for a 3 ton trailer one will need a larger car than mine, but even they are towable by cars in Europe.
What vehicle is classed as a car, but can tow three tonnes?
Don't remember what brand of car that was. I worked in a caravan shop decades ago, and my boss had a car - a station wagon, not a truck - that easily pulled 10m+ caravans, Tabbert caravans, back then it was "Princess 1050" IIRC, just like the modern Cellini models.
Only real use I can imagine, is for having a whole convoy of individually towed trailers, so you can transport multiple trailers with one trip.
But yeah, for personal use, that's far too niche for them to actually build this. I imagine, they're working on the same technology for linking lorries/trucks into big convoys and figured, they'd invest the tiniest bit of effort into a concept for re-using the technology with normal cars.
It allows a tiny car like a Leaf or Ignis to have the ability to tow I guess.
Might even be able to do it with a motorcycle as the lead vehicle so it's only your bike and your caravan on your trip, I would have loved it in my younger days touring on a supersport bike.
Well I doubt this can match the supersports acceleration ;) but I get what you mean.
It's actually interesting from a design standpoint. How do you handle a lead vehicle that has much better acceleration. Do you artificially slow down the lead vehicle so it can't abandon the "towed" trailer? What does the follower do when it loses the leader. This basically needs nearly fully autonomous driving.
Yeah like we used to have massive packs on bikes and camp between cool spots to ride or someone had to drive and tow a trailer of gear + their bike while the others ride.
Still no reason it should be wireless.
They could have a physically attached trailer with extra engine to allow those small cars to tow more than they are capable of.
It's not just engine capacity that defines towing capacity though, you need brakes that can stop the entire combined vehicle, a chassis and suspension capable of taking the strain etc.
Supplementing electric vehicles ability to tow? (I don't actually know this is just the only thing I could think of)
Why would making a separate unit improve the situation though? Plenty of EVs have enough torque to tow, it's the battery capacity that's the problem. It would make far more sense to do a hybrid system in the tow vehicle than have an entire separate vehicle with its own drivetrain.
No idea. I agree with you.
I replied to the guy you replied to, what if the lead vehicle was a motorcycle? I lived for a decade with only a motorbike.
Given the price of something like this though it feels like you'd just be buying a car that would then be able to physically tow the bike and hold whatever you were hauling to begin with lol.
Driving and carrying the bike defeats the purpose of touring 🫢