The mother and child vehicle system is a modular transportation mode in which the mother vehicle carries the child vehicles. The core consists of a mother vehicle (mostly heavy trucks) with carrying functions and a child vehicle (mostly light trucks or specialized vehicles) that can operate independently. The mother vehicle completes long-distance bulk transportation of multiple child vehicles on the main line, and the child vehicles separate upon arrival at the destination to independently carry out end distribution or short distance operations, forming a logistics loop of "centralized transportation on the main line+flexible diversion at the end". It is the core solution to improve long-distance transportation efficiency and reduce costs.
Its core features are concentrated in three points: first, high transportation efficiency, with one mother vehicle capable of carrying 3-6 sub vehicles, equivalent to using one set of vehicle resources to achieve mainline transportation of multiple sub vehicles, significantly reducing the number of mainline highway vehicles while avoiding empty return trips of sub vehicles; Secondly, there is a significant cost advantage, as only one parent vehicle driver is needed to complete the transportation of multiple sub vehicles, reducing labor costs. Additionally, the energy consumption and toll fees per unit of transport capacity are reduced by 20% -40% compared to driving the sub vehicles alone; Thirdly, the scene adaptation is flexible. The parent vehicle is mostly a new energy or energy-saving vehicle, which meets environmental protection requirements. After the separation of the sub vehicles, it can be adapted to end scenarios such as urban distribution, park connection, and cargo short haul. It is widely used in the fields of new car transportation for car companies, mainline distribution for logistics companies, and port/park cargo connection.
When using, it should be noted that the mother vehicle needs to be equipped with a dedicated load-bearing platform and fixed devices (such as buckles and guardrails) to ensure stability during the transportation of the child vehicle; The sub car needs to meet the standards of the mother car's load-bearing size and weight. In some scenarios, the sub car can also be designed to be foldable to further increase the mother car's loading capacity.