Autononmous rail cars - Parallel Systems

[Pigeon]

More flexible than traditional trains, according to Parallel Systems, the railcars are designed to transport standard shipping containers as a single- or double-stacked load in short-haul freight operations, and “enable more responsive service and a wider range of routes” using the current rail network. Each railcar is individually powered and can “form platoons of up to 50 cars to reduce energy consumption and efficiently use rail network capacity,” or split off to multiple destinations while en route, the company said. The platooning is fully automated so the railcars don’t need to couple or uncouple, it noted. “They simply move close to each other and then initiate contact through bumpers to form platoons,” Parallel explained. “Once contact is made, each vehicle maintains a set force with the one in front by regulating tractive effort. The small air gap and pushing action through railcar bumpers reduces overall aerodynamic drag of the platoon, improving energy efficiency.”

[Royal]

Viewing the video, I have my doubts.

Might work if the infrastructure was completely different.

Checked Youtube to see if anyone else notices the issue, and this guys deep dives into some issues:

[Pigeon]

Yeah, quite a few comments by people who believe it can't work as well as it sounds. Wonder what happens with OS /System hacking of these things. Would be interesting to watch but some people will end up hurt or with loses.

Pods run-a-muck.

As always, time will tell. Maybe it will just end up a way to get a bunch of money in some people's pockets via investors who will lose in the long run. Pretty common play.