This is one of the ultimate viral ads out there and it is impressive!! [video=youtube;M7FIvfx5J10]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7FIvfx5J10[/video] Would love to know how it was done!
Did you notice that the 'trucks' are going backwards during the commercial?! Look at the road stripes. Means it was played backwards, as he started out with the splits and then the trucks came back together, unsplitting him.. I can tell you as a former big rig trucker, no way a driver could drive backward that accurately!!
Easy, two Volvo trucks drive backward showing off the the new Volvo drive control. They reserved a runway to film this. There is nothing CG about it. It is what it is.
I find it hard to believe, as when backing a semi, it is usually done in a 'snake' path in providing correction with feedback..the trailers would have had to be 'frozen' to the tractors and special GPS/positioning used to maintain such precision.
Tough way to make a living. I'll pass. http://mashable.com/2013/11/15/volvo-jean-claude-van-damme-stunt-real/
Must have been a bunch of special positioning wires etc. as no semi-truck can back that straight for that long!! And, btw, I used to drive Volvos! Also said: EDIT: Correction, not semi's but straight trucks...feasible!
Actually what I would like to see is how he got out of that situation. Anyone who has done the splits knows it is easier getting down there than getting back up
Why did you have to bring 'flounder' into this?!! I initially thought that the 2 trucks were 'Semi-s,' (separate tractor & trailer), meaning driving backward and being perfectly straight for long distance is 'impossible' w/o locking the tractor & trailer together! But when they pulled the shot off to the side it was then obvious they were 'straight trucks' (Class B license not a Class A reqd as for Semi's). Still an admirable feat. These 'straight' trucks are European as they have to come off the major hwys and navigate thru the small towns in Europe; whereas, in the US we can get away with 75' Semi's in most places. I had a problem with the volume --did they say why they did this driving 'backwards??
Yes they did. As you rightly point out Europe has very different driving conditions - did you ever see the you tube of "Top Gear" road testing a Hummer in England - hilarious!!
No but will look up. Remember as a kid my dad (USAF) was stationed in England and we took the ferry over from Calais, and then he had to drive his 55 Merc in London rush hr traffic on the 'wrong side of the raod'---traffic circles & all! Think he about had a heart attack! We (me & my Sis) were too young to know to be scared...ha ha
Here it is - [video=youtube;TyUv8pipri4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyUv8pipri4[/video] Here it is - the bit you REALLY want to see is about 2:30 when he drives it round a little English village
Ha ha....at least he didnt have to go thru what they have in small town Germany--"mirrors" mounted on the bldgs on blind curves!
We have the opposite problem here - seen our "Road Trains"? I live in the outback and they come through town [video=youtube;yb5d6ISHoMU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb5d6ISHoMU[/video]
I've seen these 'things' on TV...can see the need for them but they go into the middle of nowhere with no backup! NUTS! The closest thing we have in the US is "triple 30ft's trailers along specified routes (UT) and "turnpike doubles,' (Penn) where a tractor pulling 2 x 48' trailers only runs on the main turnpike and then exits to a pre-planned location so as to unhook!
Yeah! Mate I LIVE in the great outback of Australia. These guys are EVERYWHERE. But most people up here with any sense have a two way and a satellite phone. (We can get one subsidised because we live in rural Aus). Trucks use Channel 40 and you simply call them up when you want to pass or if you are on a single lane highway and they are coming toward you - you call AND get off the road
The show I saw them in also showed them running dirt roads and having to worry about flash floods! NUTS! I know they are running relatively flat land, but they still must have some monster engines in them! Only a country with 'penal colony genetics' would do something that crazy! <wink>
You should have been with me on the road out near "The Gregory" watching the loaded trucks coming up out of the Bull Dust (fine red dust that is like quicksand)
There was a reality series about driving regular semi's in the outback called "World's Best Trucker' or something???, with truckers from all over the world---only lasted about 5 episodes tho.
no, those are Europeon semi trucks...backing at a high rate of speed. it's a commerical for Volvos new steering system that makes that possible.
If those were 'Semi's, they had to have had the 5th wheel all the way fwd and locked to the tractor frame. Normally, the 5th wheel connecting the trailer to the tractor has to be back so that the tractor can turn w/o the side faring being crunched by the trailer! These 2 trucks could in no way navigate a turn and so must be locked to the trailer as straight trucks! Definitely a 'special setup' to pull it off! Btw, one of the hardest things to do in CDL school is back a semi straight back! If you ever have pulled a trailer behind a vehicle you will understand the challenge---in trucking, it usually becomes a 'snaking maneuver ' with slight corrections back & forth to get it where you want it! I've driven American Volvos and would like to know the 'secret' that they are so proud about---would have to be computerized with several positional sensors to pull it off.
