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Waze Cruise Control Indication
Find a car with the cruise control indication being sent to the Waze app, activate your cruise control to the same speed and join the convoy. | |
Of course like any cruise control the guy in front can disengage at any time and slam on their brakes, so this would require a real world understanding of how cruise control works, but you could get the benefit of a convoy moving at a set speed over long distances.
So to be clear:
1- If you've
engaged your cruise control it's linked to the Waze app and others with the app in your area will see your car description and that the cruise control is engaged at say 65 MPH.
2- Is they elect to join your proposed convoy, they get behind you the correct number of car lengths, and engage their system.
3- As the convoy grows, others will be more likely to see it and join.
And to be clear, if you just want to drive on cruise control without leading a convoy you just wouldn't engage this feature.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorail
[pocmloc, Feb 14 2025]
[link]
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How is this different/better (in outcome) than the standard radar smart cruise control? |
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Well, couple of things. This would have you pacing with another car on cruise control which that wouldn't. With that you'd be varying your speed at the behest of the guy in front of you. So if the point of cruise control is to have a steady speed through the whole trip you would have to just engage your own cruise control and adjust it as necessary to keep proper pace with other cars. |
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But mainly, this would be indicating that there's a caravan forming that others might want to join. Then you have a pretty long line of cars all going the same speed. |
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At some point you could do the same thing with smart cars and if you've got automatic braking, distance keeping etc, could probably even safely get going to speeds of 120 mph or more on high speed designated roads, for instance more than 100 miles or so. Kind of bridge the gap between cars and trains, exept with a train you can't get to your location and drive the train car to your specific destination. |
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No, the point is that Smart Cruise Control (on my car & many many others) DOES match the speed of the car in front. As long as the Cruise speed is set higher than the car in front is going, SCC will just follow along, slowing when the car in front does, speeding up again too. Mine will happily come to a complete stop (eg. at traffic lights in a small town as I'm travelling long distance) then take off again as the car in front does.
Following distance is also adjustable & speed-dependent (I keep mine set to the maximum).
With Automatic Lane Keeping & SCC, I barely need to "drive", as long as I'm behind a good driver & the lane markings are good.
(Also, auto-convoys are a very old idea [citation needed]) |
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//No, the point is that Smart Cruise Control (on my car & many many others) DOES match the speed of the car in front// |
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Right, whether it's on cruise control or not. That's the point of this. The lead car is on cruise control so the whole caravan is on cruise control. The system you're referring to would have the lead car speeding up, slowing down at random at the whim of the driver. Not good for a caravan. |
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And it doesn't invite others to join a convoy where the leader is on cruise control, it just tracks and follows some random car you pick and does whatever that car does. |
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This easily forms a steady moving, cohesive, cruise controlled convoy and lets others know it's available in real time should they want to join it. |
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//Also, auto-convoys are a very old idea// |
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So is dating. Nobody ever suggested not creating dating apps because dating was already a thing. |
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I see your point. All are simply on cruise control at the same speed, but not "connected". Relies on every car having an accurate speedo, though (& most aren't by design). |
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Okay, how about this, combine the two systems. |
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You’ve got a very fatiguing drive, 400 miles from San Francisco to LA on Highway five, and you get a little ding on your iPhone saying that guy in the lane up ahead has a convoy going. You push “join“ move into place and have a safe relaxing trip all the way. More fuel efficient as well. |
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If someone in the middle of the convoy leaves the highway before reaching LA, and forgets to hit a "leaving convoy" button, does the back half of the convoy go straggling after him like little lost ducklings? |
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Good question. Okay, it senses your diverting away from it and turns the “convoy envoy” function off. |
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And what if the convoy leader turns off to some small town in the middle of nowhere to visit his aunties and cousins for lunch, and forgets to press the leave convoy button?? |
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It's automatic. It's aware of your location in the convoy and if you veer off suddenly it assumes you're going to your auntie or cousin or drove off a cliff and won't be able to pay the application's monthly fee anyway. |
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And suppose the entire convot is wanting to go there for your auntie's funeral or something, and you say "no worries just follow me", and you drive in convoy for 17 hours without stopping and then turn off, and the other cars atuomatically disconnect and carry straight on and realise too late and then by the time they turn around and work out how to get there they have missed the funeral? How would that make -you- feel? |
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They'd be given the destination directions as well just like any other direction giving app. "Exit approaching in 2 miles." |
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My feeling is that the aerodynamic benefits could be significant, depending on how close the cars could safely get. The whole idea is somewhat alien to the European consciousness however, you can't typically use cruise for more than a couple of minutes at a time. Driving outside of the cities in the US is where cruise comes into its own. I can also see how a convoy with radar-controlled cruise and auto emergency brakes would be safer than the average driver paying the average amount of attention on a long, dull drive. |
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It took me a while to realize I was being an irritation by not driving with cruise, by allowing the car to slow down up hills and sped up slightly going down, it is more fuel efficient, but it forces those on cruise control to disengage. |
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Me too, I'd have cruise control for years considering it more of a gadget than a useful tool before realizing that for long drives especially it's a must. I love them. |
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My thought is that this might be a step towards replacing the current freeway system eventually where you have a car that's smart enough that it doesn't need to be an explosive filled armored tank. So a future drive from SF to LA might be: |
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1- Ultralight car lane with electrical power lines in the rail separating the regular cars from these smart, electrical, manual drive optional "ultralights". |
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2- Onboard AI drive handles all alignment of the vehicles, speed, onramp and offramp maneuvering, acceleration and deceleration. |
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3- Design these caravans to go 200, 300 mph or more using very little power due to the imparted efficiency of the AI control. |
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4- So you'd drive, manually or otherwise in you ultralight to the nearest merge station, say where you want to go, be parked on the launch lane and relax, you'll be in LA in about an hour and a half. |
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5- Once you get their, you're automatically debarked from the chain and parked in the lot around the station of your choice, at which time you can either take over driving yourself or continue on robo-drive. |
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