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Highway Monorail for Trucks
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This idea incorporates driverless autopilot technologies, that once engaged allow the driver to be hands free. The concept could not only drastically improve fuel economy, but it could also significantly reduce the need for road maintenance and tire replacement.
The Stinger is a monorail automobile hybrid concept. Long straight stretches of highway would be outfitted with a monorail in the center of the truck lane flush with the roadway. Using the autopilot technology, the stinger is a steel wheel fixed to a strut that hydraulically engages with the monorail with enough pressure to offset the payload of the vehicle plus any vehicle weight that could be safely displaced. The vehicle would then be riding on rubber tires as well as the steel wheels, reducing friction and improving fuel efficiency.
This idea is in its infancy. I am interested in collaborating with people and/or companies interested in building a prototype and testing feasibility. Currently, there are trucks that use air bags to engage extra sets of wheels when the truck is carrying a load. This idea is a similar concept; however, the wheel would be made of steel and would be located in the center of the axle. I believe this concept has potential to greatly increase fuel efficiency as well as reduce tire wear and road maintenance.
Photo credit to futureatlas.com.
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On April 12th, 2013 at 1:09 am aaron Said:
I had this same idea just a few weeks ago – as usual someone else thought of it first. Technically I think it is very feasible.
Here’s a few requirements that occurred to me:
1) The mono-wheel would need to automatically disengage (raise) when exiting the lane and engage (on command of driver) when entering the lane.
2) The rail would have to be safe should a motorcyclist incidentally cross it.
3) If the mono-wheel lifts the truck too much, its possible that the truck might start to sway back and forth and at certain speeds start to oscillate uncontrollably.
4) If rail was recessed into road, somehow rocks/glass/ice/etc would have to be removed – perhaps each wheel has a “sweeper” on it.
5) Rail should be in the left-most lane which is traditionally reserved for faster traffic, not trucks.
6) Inexpensive retrofitting to existing tractor-trailers would be fundamental to its success.
On May 20th, 2013 at 7:35 pm ivan Said:
Thanks for posting your comments AARON. I think you are correct about the challenges with adapting the idea so it would be suitable for use on existing roadways. It would be good to look at existing rail/ roadway interfaces in order to get some ideas. I wish we had time and money to create a test track that would allow us to determine how much fuel could be saved as well as investigate the safety issues. Another idea I have is to outfit high end motor homes with train wheels so that they could be connected to rail cars for long trips and then simply drive away once they reach the destination. That would be fun!