The China section of an expressway linking western Europe with Yellow Sea

[onebyone]

https://twitter.com/x/status/932204276759199744

 

[Martian2]

This is extremely interesting.

A highway connection between China's Yellow Sea (near Beijing) and Western Europe.

The question is whether semi-trailer truck transport can compete with ocean transport if we use automated semi-trailer trucks.

We know China has been testing a prototype automated semi-trailer truck. The technology should become available in a few years.

"In June, [China's] Tusimple completed a 200-mile so-called Level 4 test drive from San Diego to Yuma, Arizona, using an Nvidia graphics-processing unit and cameras as primary sensors. Level 4 is industry-speak for vehicles that can pilot themselves in almost all environments and will stop safely if the human driver doesn’t respond to a request for them to take over. The ultimate goal is Level 5 -- no steering wheel, brake pedal or human required." (see Bloomberg citation below)

Ocean Freight Cost | Container Transportation
"The diagram shows clearly that ocean transportation is cheap with lowest ocean freight cost of around USD3,000, but has long transit times. The other extreme is air transport, which is expensive but fast.

For trucking, the costs are 3 to 4 times that of ocean transport and transit times are found to be roughly one week shorter. However, there seems to be huge potential for shortening transit times of trucking even further. For rail solutions, the transport costs are higher than for ocean transport and the transit times are found to be unpredictable."
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China Startup Races Tesla With Driverless Trucks in Arizona | Bloomberg