Road Trains: Genius or guaranteed pile-up? – EU Infrastructure — What could possibly go wrong?

Road Trains: Genius or guaranteed pile-up? – EU Infrastructure — What could possibly go wrong?
The European Union has financed a study to look at how grouping vehicles into ‘platoons’ or ‘road trains’ on the continent’s motorways could cut fuel consumption, journey times and congestion.

The quite-frankly bizarre idea sees groups of cars linked together via wireless sensors, with a lead vehicle (driven by a ‘professional driver’ – whatever that means) leading the train. The ‘lead driver’ would monitor the status of the road train, allowing those in the other vehicles to sit back, sleep or read a book whilst they travel along motorways.

The EU’s study will be entirely focused on the system working with wireless sensors and up to eight vehicles ranging from your everyday family cars to buses and trains. In theory, these vehicles could be mixed and matched in a ‘road train’, but I’m not sure I’d want to be in between a truck and a bus with no control.

The preliminary report picked up by the BBC says that ‘road trains’ could cut fuel levels by up to 20 percent presumably due to most vehicles being in the lead’s slipstream.