Electric rail vehicle
A Rail Drone can include: a payload interface, a drivetrain, and a rail platform 515 . The Rail Drone can additionally or alternatively include any other suitable set of components. The Rail Drone can integrate a standardized payload interface and an autonomous electric road vehicle platform into a rolling stock architecture. The Rail Drone can be a stand-alone, payload-agnostic, motive element which can be independently or cooperatively capable of carrying heavy loads across long distances at various cruising speeds.
1. A system comprising:
a first rail drone comprising:
a first rail platform;
a first set of brakes mounted to the rail platform;
a bumper mounted to the rail platform;
a first computing system coupled to the bumper and configured to autonomously control actuation of the first set of brakes based on a contact force at the bumper.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the set of brakes comprises a battery-electric powertrain of the first rail drone with regenerative braking capability.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the contact force is associated with a coordinated brake command relayed from an adjacent rail drone ahead of the rail drone in a direction of traversal.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first computing system is further configured to control actuation of the first set of brakes based on instructions wirelessly received from at least one of: a remote infrastructure device or a vehicle traversing a common section of track.
5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising: a second rail drone, wherein the first and second rail drones are configured to cooperatively support a payload, the second rail drone comprising a second set of brakes which is physically decoupled from the first set.
6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the actuation of the first and second sets of brakes are synchronized via a local wireless network.
7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the second rail drone comprises a second computing system configured to control actuation of the second set of brakes based on commands wirelessly received from the first computing system.
8. The system of claim 5 , wherein the second rail drone comprises a second computing system configured to control actuation of the second set of brakes based on an acceleration of the second drone.