It's really hard to give any specifics with such a broad question, but generally with rails you should be distributing loads over multiple wheels as opposed to having beefier wheels (rails themselves are pretty soft and will be a maintanence issue if heavy loads keep moving on it). It's...
I agree as well. It seems like everyone is very eager about the first type of vehicle (fully autonomous), but the "jiggle controls" part is very valuable - the computer is much better at bringing car back into normal driving mode after a slip than a human.
A basic "drive-by-wire" system should...
SparWeb - mainly because the procedures were followed incorrectly by the technician.
The connecting boxes are mounted to the chassis, which sits on good suspension, so there's little vibration (not enough to cause any things to come loose before the next checkup!). The motor cables are flexible...
This is probably not going to be much of help, but some insight from electric (DC) subway trains - most high-voltage connections are made through connection boxes similar to these for reasons of connection reliability* and for fire safety (all nodes/connectors/points of attachment are considered...
If I understand the original post right, there's an issue with "trailing" rockets - you need significantly more energy to chase than to intercept head-on. We're talking longer intercept times (due to chasing rather than having the target fly towards you) and as a result more fuel. But you also...