Akademik

n.

1. A convoy of trucks traveling in close formation. 2. A truck with three or more trailers. (This term is used almost exclusively in Australia and dates back to at least the early 1980s.)

• "Under the scheme, a transport manager would arrange for a fleet of lorries to travel as a closely packed 'road train'. This group formation is achieved and maintained by a video camera that, with the aid of a computer in each vehicle, measures the distance to the next lorry to within an accuracy of 1%."

— Sean Hargrave, "Computers will guide road trains," Sunday Times, October 20, 1996

• "The most famous trucks are the Australian 'Road Trains,' which run cross country from Adelaide, north through Alice Springs to Darwin. These monster trucks pull three, full length trailers on official roads. In wilder areas they often haul five trailers, which adds up to the length of a football field."

— Steve Payne, "Life is a Highway," The Toronto Sun, September 22, 1999