This is Autoline Daily, reporting on the global automotive industry.
SUSPENSION TRAVEL, TO THE EXTREME!
In the past, making a military vehicle safer meant slapping on more armor. But the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or DARPA has a program that aims to improve survivability without adding more armor. Part of that initiative includes an extreme travel suspension system developed by Pratt & Miller. And when I say extreme, I mean extreme. It’s able to move 42-inches up and 30-inches down for a total of 6-feet of travel. This allows vehicles to travel at high rates of speed over rough terrain, without roughing the passengers up too much or drive on the side of a steep hill without fear of tipping over. And it’s pretty amazing how the cab of the vehicle barely seems to move.
BOSCH STOPS MOTORCYCLES FROM WIPING OUT
Advanced safety systems are common for cars, trucks and SUVs and now the supplier Bosch is working to bring the same technologies into motorcycles. It’s adding radar for bikes that allows for automatic cruise control, blind spot recognition, and collision warnings, where the rider gets an audio or visual signal if another vehicle is dangerously close. Bosch has also developed a solution that greatly reduces the risk of wiping out. If a sensor detects sideways wheel slip, a gas is vented through a nozzle that provides a lateral force to help keep the motorcycle upright and on course. Bosch says it’s like a magic hand that helps keep the bike upright and interestingly enough, the gas accumulator they use is plucked from passenger car airbags. And that should help keep down the cost.
LOW-COST ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLE
Three years ago, Gordon Murray Design, the British design house, along with the Global Vehicle Trust, introduced a low-cost, all-terrain vehicle called the OX. It was created for poor, rural areas in developing countries. It can carry a payload of 1,900 kilograms or about 4,190 pounds and can seat up to 13 people. It can be self-assembled and it uses fewer and more accessible parts to keep maintenance costs low. And now the oil company Shell, has commissioned a pre-production prototype of the OX, to bring it to India. It will test the vehicle with its fluids, including Shell Rimula, a diesel oil used to make engines run more efficiently in all-terrain conditions.
SHELL’S HYPER FUEL EFFICIENT SEMI-TRUCK
And speaking of Shell, it partnered with the Airflow Truck Company to develop a hyper fuel efficient Class 8 semi-truck, called the Starship. As you can see, the cab has been optimized for aerodynamics and is made out of carbon fiber. Other aero features include active grille shutters and an elongated boat tail at the rear. The truck is powered by a 15 liter, 6-cylinder diesel engine along with a 48V battery. It’s also equipped with a 5,000-watt solar array on top of the trailer. In its first test run of more than 2,300 miles across the U.S., the truck averaged nearly 9 MPG, which is about 2.5 MPG more than the average semi gets.
Autoline After Hours exclusive: Tadge Juechter, executive chief engineer on the Corvette C8. Join us as we take a deep dive into one of the most anticipated sports cars of the modern era. That’s Thursday, December 12 at 3 pm eastern time. Submit your questions to Tadge, send an email to: viewermail@autoline.tv
SEMI TRUCK LOWRIDER
Some truckers spend tens of thousands of dollars to deck out their rigs with lights, chrome and large painted murals. And it’s not just limited to the U.S. If you’ve never seen Japanese Dekotora, do a Google image search. And check out this Mercedes truck from Finland that was turned into a Lowrider. We love the bold purple paint with the graphics on the trailers and a huge mural of actor Danny Trejo on the cab. And of course, no lowrider would be complete without knock-off wire wheels, huge white-wall tires and a purple, white and gold velvet interior.
NEW TECHNIQUE TO BUILD ROADS
The assembly line is a staple of the automotive industry and now a Turkish company is applying the method to the way we produce roads. The company, Dahir Insaat, first applied a technique, called cast-in place construction in house building using a universal wall panel, but has adapted the thinking to road making. A giant, slow rolling machine handles most of the work. 13 large rolling pins, to tamp down the ground, sit at the front. A base layer of material, which is fed to the machine via trucks at the back, is then laid down. Next an entire row of cement puzzle-like blocks are laid over the base material. The blocks are loaded into the back of the machine and pieced together with a set of robot arms with suction cups on the end. This way, the machine is able to stay in constant motion and the process just repeats itself over and over. And once it gets far enough along, a final top coat is ready to be put over the top of the blocks. It really is a unique approach to road making and I don’t know about you, but it kind of reminds me of one of those giant launch platforms for space shuttles.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
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Comments (34)
December 9th, 2019 at 12:04 pm
Sean: Somehow I missed the connection between better off-road capabilities on a military vehicle and how that makes it safer than adding more armor. Seems like two completely different criteria. Either way that Pratt and Miller vehicle looks to be an amazing off-road warrior.
The Bosch air puff seems like something I would need to see in action to believe it would help much.
The OX is low cost as in what?
December 9th, 2019 at 12:10 pm
Obviously the roads department around where we live must expect all of us to drive those neat ultra suspension vehicles.
I suppose Bosch isn’t sub-contracting the work to Takata. It would make motorcycle racing more like the chariot racing in Ben Hur.
It will be interesting to see how the all-terrain trucks handle the enormous piles of wood that so many YouTubers like to video.
December 9th, 2019 at 12:13 pm
1 This is what the link said
“DARPA’s Ground X-Vehicle Technologies (GXV-T) program aims to improve mobility, survivability, safety, and effectiveness of future combat vehicles without piling on armor. The demonstrations featured here show progress on technologies for traveling quickly over varied terrain and improving situational awareness and ease of operation. “
December 9th, 2019 at 12:16 pm
2 Have you been in MI? We have the worst roads of all 50 states, (with maybe the exception of Alaska which has no roads) an utter disgrace.
I had to pay for expensive repairs on both the BMW 740iL (over $1,000 for springs and struts) and the Merc (the dealer wanted $2,300 and I did it just as well for less than $600 at an independent shop).
December 9th, 2019 at 12:23 pm
Sean,
They left the B off the name of the OX. Does the vehicle come like an IKEA flatpack, or do they just ship the mechanical’s inside the body and use the body as the BOX.
December 9th, 2019 at 12:34 pm
The OX looks perfect for a post-apocalyptic, dystopian world.
I am picturing that DARPA vehicle with a 20mm recoilless rifle on top and AI powered with some sort of sophisticated IFF system. Hello Skynet!!
December 9th, 2019 at 12:37 pm
Oops! The “new road concept” displaces “how many workers ?” and it also loks like paving with cobble stones as a base. If the sub grade “moves around or develops a “holiday or ripple” think the mother of all pot holes!!!
December 9th, 2019 at 1:38 pm
Looks like Bollinger styled the OX. Would love to know how much one costs. I am assuming one could not be registered for on-road use in the United States.
The Shell high mileage semi truck doesn’t bring anything new to the table, other than the solar panels. All of those aero aids have been done before. A couple of IMSA racing transporters in the 80′s showcased nearly all of the same aero add-ons to see how much they would improve mileage. I am guessing Shell is trying to make the statement that diesel power can be more efficient, undoubtedly prompted by the Tesla Semi and Nikola One, Two and Tre models, among others.
December 9th, 2019 at 1:42 pm
I can see that the extreme suspension travel vehicle could be used to great extent by the military, though I too, was wondering how it would make travel safer (from fire/attack) other than traveling in areas that wouldn’t be as accessible to the enemy.
And the Bosch system using the puffs of air, etc. seemed as a Deja vu moment for me; pretty sure this same type system was reported some time ago but can’t recollect whether I saw it here (Autoline Daily) or somewhere else.
December 9th, 2019 at 2:27 pm
1,3,9 Maybe they are saying that the machine goes so fast it will outrun the shock wave and shrapnel from roadside bombs. That sounds pretty far fetched, though. With all of that complexity, I’d think it would be more easily disabled than a more conventional vehicle. It’s cool, though, how it drives on an incline and keeps the body level.
December 9th, 2019 at 2:34 pm
#4 As a former Michigander, I feel your pain. Actually, there are many new technologies / road making machines available now that were created to deal with the dreaded pot-hole (as well as paving).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h7ivH4A2jc
Or maybe, they need could use the Python 5000
pot-hole patcher . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjCXuA3t8kI
(7th machine IIRC)
December 9th, 2019 at 4:44 pm
Wouldn’t it be cool to add that suspension on a 4 wheeler!
Yup, Mi. roads suck. You would think they could do a better job, considering the majority of Michigan roads are still unpaved. I lived on a sand road between Ann Arbor and Toledo for 25 years. It was at least grated once/year and, usually No.2 stone was added; they always disappeared in a couple weeks. Speed limits don’t apply. Road conditions determine that!
I do recall watching the car behind me hitting a pot hole that I avoided. I was on the expressway near the huge Uniroyal tire. The whole tire sped between the moving cars and demolished the side of a small car as it went around the curve. Crazy stuff!
December 9th, 2019 at 5:20 pm
It looks like Michigan needs to increase gas tax, and spend the money on roads. The state has low spending, by most criteria, but has very bad conditions with freezing/thawing, and road salt damage. I don’t seem to be able to link an article from my phone that goes over the details.
December 9th, 2019 at 5:43 pm
@7. I tend to think subsurface movement would not produce potholes.
Just look at how well brick paver (cobblestone) roads generally hold up over time. Sure, they can get bumpy after 100 years, but they fair much better than any traditional concrete or asphalt road construction method.
December 9th, 2019 at 5:45 pm
Kit, increasing gas taxes won’t fly with most people. I think over loaded semi’s ruin the roads. But for any reason, it is not cheap to live in Michigan. When I returned home to Ohio, my car insurance was cut in half!
On the other hand, this country boy’s move to Ohio in a swanky town and in a desirable neighborhood along the lake, my property taxes increased over 5X. There went our car insurance savings….Poof! I can no longer retrieve the mail from the front of the road in my skivvies, yet can cut the lawn in an hour instead of the whole day.
December 9th, 2019 at 5:49 pm
@4, 11, 12, 13
We (Michigan) actually spends less than any other Great Lakes state on road maintenance.
https://semcog.org/blog/artmid/528/articleid/260/michigan%E2%80%99s-road-spending-how-do-we-stack-up
December 9th, 2019 at 6:00 pm
Many of my hometown roads in Sandusky downtown were brick paved. My grandpa told me work started after WW1 as a work project. As a kid, I remember workers removing brick to fill in shallow spots, then replacing them. I think the roads were asphalted in the late 60′s. I don’t think you could ask for a better road surface and one of such longevity. I can still hear the hum from driving over the brick road to this day. Something this generation may never experience.
December 9th, 2019 at 6:20 pm
One of the ways you can reduce armor requirements is to get the bottom of the vehicle as high off the road surface as possible so that any explosive device that goes off underneath it has less of an affect on the body of the vehicle and the occupants inside. I think that is one of the areas the long travel suspension is trying to take advantage of.
December 9th, 2019 at 6:25 pm
Here is a link to an ATV with the opposite philosophy for a suspension system (none) of the long travel one unless you count the low pressure tires as both springs and dampers, which also enable it to swim: fattruck.com.
December 10th, 2019 at 8:20 am
12 Yeah its pretty amazing that we can build cars that can drive themselves we can even build a vehicle put it into a rocket send it to another planet land it on the surface drive it around for years and yet we cannot figure out how to build a road that last more than 4 years in Michigan. Granted the budgets are significantly different but seems we would have come up with something better than what we been doing for the last 70 years.
December 10th, 2019 at 8:32 am
13 No. Ann Arbor has huge taxes incl taxes specifically aimed at fixing the roads, but either due to corruption or incompetence, the fixes last barely a year. Visitors from other states always notice the pathetic state of our roads.
December 10th, 2019 at 9:03 am
21 Municipalities may vary, but overall, Michigan has the lowest spending per mile driven of the 50 states, and conditions are much more demanding there than for many states, with the freezing and thawing, road salt damage, etc. Yes, the salt damages infrastructure, not just cars.
December 10th, 2019 at 9:36 am
22 Some of the problems with Michigan is it used to be a swamp so the ground isn’t the best with the water table only a few feet down in many places. That’s not just a coastal area around the lakes problem either. Even in central Michigan lots of swampy low land with less than ideal ground to build a road. But hey I been to Florida and driven the Okeechobee trail and that seem to be smooth. But they don’t have the freezing temps like we get so maybe this paving machine might be the answer. Instead of making the road a solid ridged structure let it flex and float like a floating dock.
December 10th, 2019 at 10:04 am
23 I’ve driven 6,000 KM on two weekends on the German Autobahns back in 1988 and they are smooth as an egg. The Eastern German autobahns were in as bad shape as MI roads , probably due to neglect and poor materials used, just like here.
Northern Germany has a very similar landscape as the Midwest from Cleveland to Chigago, incl. SE MI. (however, their summers have perfect, mild, spring-like weather, and not the hot and humid hell we have in most of the Midwest, even as you drive x-country, Iowa, WI-MN, N-S Dakota etc are not any better.
I believe some German roads are made of concrete and ours are always asphalt. Asphalt is terrible in the hot summer and is also lousy in the winter, easy to break.
December 10th, 2019 at 10:46 am
Don’t you just love it when road crews resurface an intersection with only 2 inches of asphalt, then a semi makes a sharp turn and peels the asphalt back like a piece of skin!
Larry, aren’t some of the roads north of the university, by Zingerman’s, still bricked? I think the road in-between the Deli and Farmers Market was just paved over. I think it took away from the charm of the area, just for the sake of progress.
December 10th, 2019 at 11:15 am
24 I don’t remember what the road surface was, but the German autobahns had very smooth, even 45 years ago. It would have been easy to feel a bad road surface in the VW Beetle I was driving.
December 10th, 2019 at 11:26 am
25 Have not been in that area for a while but there are still plenty of road segments in downtown Ann Arbor that are either red brick or other cobblestone.
26 The Golf II with probably a smaller engine than in the US at the time, would top at 100 MPH (160 KPH) with the foot on the floor. Had no cruise control, plenty of road/tire/engine noise, no cassette player, and a stereo (Blaupunkt I believe) I could not figure out. Did 100 KPH for long stretches, got 7 lt/100 km (vs 5 lt/100km with the Civic hatch at about 70 MPH). Fortunately never had a problem (both weekends were Golf IIs) and 5 of the 6 days were clear skies.
December 10th, 2019 at 11:28 am
26 I meant 100 MPH for long stretches. There was traffic only on 2-3 isolated segments, as in Hamburg-Hanover and a traffic jam (“Stau” in German) near Stuttgart, where it frequently happens. On weekends, there were no 18 wheelers allowed on the autobahns back then.
December 10th, 2019 at 11:35 am
On the way back to Berlin on one of these trips, near Bayreuth ( I had to look up Google maps as I was sure I got the spelling wrong, and corrected it), I even managed to get a speeding ticket. Not on the no-speed limit autobahn but on a smaller country road, a few days later I got the ticket in the mail, there was a photo of me doing 90 in an 80 KPH zone, and the ticket was very reasonable, only 10-20 DMarks, so I sent a payment right away.
My colleagues told me I probably could get away not paying it, but also told me of another driver, going really fast, who got one of these photos in the mail, and a ticket for some exorbitant amount, like 500 Euros. So he sent a photo of a 500 Euro bank note (the purple ones), the police was not amused, and sent him a photo of a pair of handcuffs and a bleak jail cell.
December 10th, 2019 at 11:43 am
27 My 1584cc US spec Beetle went about 80 mph with the foot to the floor. It got about 22-23 mpg wide open, about 10 lt/100 km at that speed, not too good. My much bigger, roomier, safer Camry hybrid uses about half as much fuel at that speed, and a non-hybrid Camry or Accord would do at least 50% better at 80 mph. There has been a lot of progress in cars over the last 45 years.
December 10th, 2019 at 11:59 am
As I recall, the autobahns were engineered to serve a “Thousand Year Reich”, not twenty years or so like our Interstate highways. The foundational structure of the autobahns is much deeper and robust than Americans are willing to pay for.
December 10th, 2019 at 1:07 pm
31 Those were the oldest of the autobahns, one could still find them in East Germany, but in West Germany those were updated and new ones constructed after the war.
The ancient Romans also had superb highways connecting the ends of the empire, and they were very meticulously built, with several layers of durable materials etc.
December 10th, 2019 at 2:47 pm
The autobahns in the old East Germany have been rebuilt since the wall came down and most are in excellent shape (at least the ones I drove on).
In Ontario, highway 401 (the main east west artery through the province) is being rebuilt in sections using concrete instead of asphalt with a lot of time and effort used to prepare the base. It seems to be working as the freeze/thaw cycle of our climate appears to be doing less damage compared to the old asphalt sections. It must also be noted that the original western most section (near Windsor, Ontario and Detroit) was made from concrete back in the 60s and ended up in a horrible mess after a few years of frost damage and was rebuilt using asphalt. So they must be doing something right this time around.
December 10th, 2019 at 2:59 pm
The 401 gets a lot of heavy truck traffic on it and the concrete sections appear to be holding up well to that as well. Officials claim that the 401 carries more traffic on it than any other road in North America. Probably because of its 850 Km (525 mi.) length and that it passes through Toronto which is Canada’s most populous city.