Glenn Michael Morley

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FollowYouFollowMe in 2010 the entire "self-driving" vehicle technology was still quite novel and not on the roads - my thinking on the problem of modern city highways - particularly in North America - was the failure of drivers to maintain a consistent distance between vehicles under all driving conditions - if we consider the railway system - the cars are mechanically linked to each other - the question I asked myself is could we - using the then already introduced technology of ABS and Speed Control add internal sensing and control systems to the vehicle to link up with a vehicle in front and behind via sensing systems that would control the braking via ABS and the vehicle speed via speed control so that a continuous line of vehicles could be linked to each other in a "train" that would operate under a determined highway speed based on real-time monitored road conditions - the "train" would brake and speed up uniformly as one unit of up to 100 linked cars - I called it FollowYouFollowMe and the control system I proposed was already existing technology - it simply needed to be integrated into the vehicle and then programmed to control the ABS and speed control - none of this is or was technically infeasible - any Control Engineer would agree with this assessment then as now - it CAN be done - for a vehicle to enter and exit from the train signals would be sent to "disconnect" from the train and a wider gap would be opened by having the following car and all others attached to it reduce their speed automatically to allow the driver to transfer out of the train into the "off-ramp" - the gap would then be closed by the following car and all others linked behind it speeding up - similarly - an on-ramping procedure would allow for new cars to enter into the train - in short - ALL highways would ONLY require (2) lanes in either direction - one for the train and the other for entering and exiting the train - this would eliminate the massive 6-8-10 or more lane super highways we currently have in BOTH directions for some busy cities - this technology would also nearly eliminate accidents from the train as all cars would be controlled equally to brake and retain the distance to each other - a "safe distance" would be set and maintained by external control as a sensing system would also be installed on the meridian to control the train speed based on road conditions - emergency situations would use ABS braking to ensure no skidding occurred - no one could "speed" because the train would set the speed - today's self-driven technology could even more readily adapt to this idea - in short you would eliminate stop-and-go traffic - transit times across cities would always be optimum and known - highway accidents which are often fatal would be virtually eliminated - pollution would be greatly reduced as all of the vehicles would be operating at maximum engine speed and producing minimum pollution - as no cars would be sitting idle hence the pollution counts would drop - ALL of this can be implemented and have a massive impact on society but ............

I did propose this concept idea to the Government of Canada Leadership Grants Program but their reply was for me to invest MY money and they would provide limited funding until the project was successful - point being if it became successful - who needs government assistance ! - not enough is done in Canada and other countries to support sound ideas that generate new opportunities and jobs - struggling Engineers can certainly not also bankroll their innovations Mr and Ms. Politics - while governments TRY to boast and brag about how supportive they are towards innovation and R&D research - the TRUTH is they stay out of the picture until you are successful then rush in with a token grant to ensure they can put their Made in Canada badge on the product and boast in their political pamphlets and propaganda as to just how much they have contributed to Innovation in Canada - in short it is NOT enough but that is another story - a sad commentary when so much government funding is frivolously wasted on token social programs to help people who are unemployed instead of helping them to help themselves - sure I am biased in this opinion but that bias is sadly lacking in government circles in most countries - governments are FAR more eager to send out welfare or EI pay cheques then to support initiative and innovation that generates job and wealth for the country - FACT