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Comment by _blk | Hacker News Reader

In practice it's of course not so simple. Every truck that passes you (or that you pass) will suck you right in if your tow vehicle isn't heavy enough or you don't have good enough grip. Also, (RV/drum) trailer brakes suck so hard that you really want a vehicle with some additional stopping power other than regular brakes (heavy duty transmission, big engine, and diesel exhaust or compression brake). E-brakes work well so there the e-assist trailer has a real advantage if it can do that but you'll have to get used to the feeling of being pulled back rather than leading the stop... So evy 6.7l diesel I tow a big RV and e-assistance would be very welcome but costs likely drastically reduce the attractiveness of such a system for an RV. For a trailer that's constantly on the road I can definitely see a use case but it's not to be towed by a (comparatively) tiny car

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Yeah, driving semi on tight two lane roads there’s be a whip cracking sound when we passed by other semis close, the two air vortexes colliding.

But I think it’s surmountable. Someone in this thread joked you could put the steering wheel in the RV, which is of course done, so really it’s just a question of RV motion not compatible with car. I could imagine problems with this, if the stopping distance of the RV is higher as it is in loaded semis, you need a feedback mechanism to the car not destroy the brakes of the car, same with pulling. Really the advantages are too high, solar charging, weeks of battery, ability to slow move with no car, but no restraints of being a motor vehicle.

Or flip the narrative and put the steering wheel in the RV trailer and tow your tiny car behind it!

Wait...

Obligatory VW trailer assist ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvZuSxibyYE

lol! Good point: Really it’s the integrated vehicle components that make motorhomes cost so much more than towables. In trucking, the triples trailers don’t have front axles, they’re added through converter dollies. That’s really all you need to make this work, a motorized steerable converter dolly and you can use it with any existing trailer. It only needs to be able to steer, maybe through combining different wheel speeds. they are basically moving trailers already this way with robot Dollies in China.

Realistically you can digitally tow the trailer at that point, you don’t even need the connection, just the promise the trailer following your tracks and staying close behind.

> Every truck that passes you (or that you pass) will suck you right in if your tow vehicle isn't heavy enough or you don't have good enough grip

You'd think you'd ever see some evidence of this happening and right now at the height of Tourist Season you'd expect to see the roads littered with smashed caravans, but no - it does not appear to happen.

It has happened people I personally know. It wasn't just a truck passing, it was a truck passing with a good cross wind, which is why it isn't common. This wasn't a small tow vehicle, it was a F350 which is a large truck even by US standards, and it has a heavy duty frame. At least the truck was strong/heavy enough to say out of the ditch and could safely be moved to the side of the road unlike if it was a smaller tow vehicle.

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