Look up the towing capacity of a mid sized SUV. They can’t tow shit, you basically need a pickup to tow anything over 1500lbs. That’s only a small Uhaul 5x8 trailer.
Sure, but here you basically have to have an autonomous pickup truck following you. The question is if you need something about the size of a pickup anyway, why not just drive the pickup?
The diagram shows something impossible, a tiny little autonomous tow vehicle. The physics just don’t support it. Even a tractor is only acceptable for towing a big load by virtue of going at a relative snail’s pace. At speed the bigger mass will tend to dictate how the physics goes. So for decent payload, you’ll need basically a full on pickup truck.
So the usage scenario is “I want to rent something almost exactly like a pickup truck, but am not willing to actually drive the pickup truck”.
It would be more like a self powered converter dolly that is used in a B-train that has 3 drive axels. And you are correct it would weigh more than the lead vehicle.
Look up the towing capacity of a mid sized SUV. They can’t tow shit, you basically need a pickup to tow anything over 1500lbs. That’s only a small Uhaul 5x8 trailer.
Sure, but here you basically have to have an autonomous pickup truck following you. The question is if you need something about the size of a pickup anyway, why not just drive the pickup?
The diagram shows something impossible, a tiny little autonomous tow vehicle. The physics just don’t support it. Even a tractor is only acceptable for towing a big load by virtue of going at a relative snail’s pace. At speed the bigger mass will tend to dictate how the physics goes. So for decent payload, you’ll need basically a full on pickup truck.
So the usage scenario is “I want to rent something almost exactly like a pickup truck, but am not willing to actually drive the pickup truck”.
It would be more like a self powered converter dolly that is used in a B-train that has 3 drive axels. And you are correct it would weigh more than the lead vehicle.