Comments on: Giant Trucks Are No Longer Scary

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:29:46 +0000

No 18-wheelers ever? At all? Anywhere? For any circumstances? You must like growing your own vegetables, mining your own minerals and hauling them in your trunk, driving to the shipping ports to pickup computer parts and electronics at astronomically higher prices, not having stores nearby, not having any gas stations nearby, etc. As the saying goes: “If you got it, a truck brought it.” Like it or not, they are integral to our life. They transport fuel for your car, food for your grocery store, parts for that computer you’re using, everything you have in your house, etc. If you are naive enough to believe that society could continue as is with no trucks anywhere then that’s your right (it’s a free country), but you have a lot to learn.

By: powaz

powaz — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:11:24 +0000

Oh, right, I forgot: http://cyclonepower.com/

By: powaz

powaz — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:13:02 +0000

Good points “MSW”… not only would people think the blinking lights would mean it’s trying to merge into their lane, communists would love to be able to track everyone’s speed in real time. Besides, why there have to be lights on the outside at all is beyond me. Could just as easily be a cluster on the dash. I still don’t see how this is better than Colani’s tractor. Oh, right, it’s battery powered…

By: steve

steve — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:07:20 +0000

good question. the wheel covers turn with the wheel. they are not set in that position, an image of the vehicle turning would help out a lot i think. Also the trailer is pulled closer at high speeds and pushed away at slower speeds to increase turning leverage

By: Solaria

Solaria — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:59:53 +0000

Looks like it would work if the truck were traveling straight down the road.. but how does it turn? Normally the front wheels are exposed to provide clearance for the tires during a turn. This design looks like it would pop the wheel covers off the first time you turned a corner. Am I missing something here?

By: palethorpe

palethorpe — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:30:12 +0000

Its not regulated, its the law. what your saying is that truckers should be able to break the law and not stick to legislation that is put down for the safety of road users?

Let me ask you something, have you been in an accident with a truck that is due to the issues stated?

Has someone in your family been in one?

The idea is not just to protect other road users, it is to protect drivers themselves from feeling they have to perform better than they can legally.

You have to look at everything from a different point of view

By: palethorpe

palethorpe — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:25:49 +0000

Thanks for the comments. The vehicle is a concept, you are right, although i think you are a little too quick to jump to the conclusions that it should be ready for production right now, if only it was that simple. little naive to think that as a student i could have designed a whole project to ready made level. The concept is developed to impress and provoke a reaction, it is then tamed down and legislation is looked into more strictly.

I did write a technical report which was graded to a very high level, addressing in that report the issues the vehicle would have in production TODAY, however the vehicle is not designed for today it is for 7-10 years time. The windows are not tinted, they are based on polymer dispersed liquid crystal window technology, current legislation would not allow them however technology may very well improve and legislation may allow, if not, a standard window may be used.

Everybody knows that the design is not ready for production right now, but not everybody points out the obvious.

As for placing the LEDs somewher else, it would not be that big a problem, theres is enough visible space on the exterior of a truck to host some LEDs and the idea has creative enough of a stir in the design circle to justify me putting them on my concept!

And the wheel covers are a new idea, they will have problems, but there will be ways to improve the idea of replace it.

Think your getting too serious about the project, it was my final year degree project its not a real Scania concept, you are not seeing the entire project from this article and a lot of your questions would be answered if you looked into it properly.

Criticism is more than welcome as it improves design, but pointless comments that are obviously trivial attempts to put a design down are not productive to any designer and it frustrates me to see it on other peoples work, let alone my own.

Thanks.

By: Alan Brookland

Alan Brookland — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 12:15:28 +0000

If you’re going to remove the wheel-covers as impractical to actually manufacture, what are you going to host your LED indicators on?

Have you actually considered the practicalities of putting this design into production or is it yet another wonderful ‘concept’ which is actually impossible to realise?

I can’t see a windscreen that tinted meeting vehicle regulations either.

By: Dylan

Dylan — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 06:31:12 +0000

LED lights that point out if it’s speeding or driving over regulated times?

Let me ask you people something…. Have you ever seen (or been) that annoying person in the grocery store that bitches to the employees because they are out of stock of something that they obviously have no control over? The friendly employee states to no avail that the truck is late, but they will have no part in hearing that. It’s horrible that they should have to wait another 4 hours to come back and get their eggs.

The designers and the people who support this obviously have no idea what it’s like on the road. Get used to hearing more of those types in any store you go to if this system is ever brought into practical use.

Trucking is the backbone of this country’s economy any way you look at it. If they aren’t allowed to do their jobs properly (not regulated, but properly) every single person that thought this was a good idea will soon start to see what happens when truckers are hampered even more than the ways they already are.

By: Foda

Foda — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:27:32 +0000

Also, GPS reports would be so ridiculously flawed and inaccurate most of the time and deliver false reports on the LEDs. The concept of this truck is great but the LED wheel cover for speed limits and hours driven is just silly.