Six convoys of “smart trucks” traveling in so-called platoons arrived in the coastal city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands last week after an experiment that organizers say will revolutionize future road transport on Europe’s busy highways.
The platoon concept involves groups of two or three trucks equipped with electronic communications traveling together. Course, speed and braking are controlled by the lead vehicle, with the rear trucks responding in tandem. The truck manufacturers participating in the Rotterdam test are DAF, Daimler, Iveco, MAN, Scania and Volvo.
Supply Chain Summary says…
Ultimately, systems must be designed so that trucks from different manufacturers can communicate and work together in a single platoon.
What are you saying?
Click here to send us your comments
Click here to see reader comments
The connection enables redundant trucks to travel with much less distance between them, so they would never be safe with human drivers in control. (See photo below.) This reduction in gap protects the rear trucks from some contact with the air, resulting in improved aerodynamics. Proponents say this improvement, combined with traveling at more consistent speeds, improves the platoon’s mileage by up to 10%.
The trucks in this test still have human drivers, who can take over control at any time if necessary, but the ultimate goal here is for self-driving self-driving trucks, certainly at least in rear vehicles, to be ready to one day operate in the world. A very distant future. The semi-automated approach is likely just a stepping stone on the road to this brave new world.
Advocates of platooning say that in addition to the fuel-saving benefits, platooning trucks would actually be safer, reducing the number of accidents caused by failure to brake in a timely manner, as the machines can react to a forward stop much faster than humans.
Platoons of trucks should also compress vehicles on the road due to increased vehicle density and thus improve overall traffic flow.
Truck platooning will ensure cleaner and more efficient transportation. Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Environment, Melanie Schulz van Haijn, said autonomous vehicles also contribute to road safety because most accidents are caused by human failure.
There are still challenges ahead. This includes unifying regulatory rules across the various European Union countries, which currently have a patchwork of these rules. Additionally, in this test, each platoon was made up of trucks from the same manufacturer. Ultimately, systems must be designed so that trucks from different manufacturers can communicate and work together in one place 
Detachment.
The Netherlands, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, will soon hold an informal summit to discuss changes in regulations needed to make self-driving transport a reality, and will soon release more detailed data on the trucks’ performance in the test, which appeared to be very successful. Based on pure observation only.
There is, of course, interest in the United States in self-driving trucks and platooning, although the country appears to lag far behind Europe in this effort. There was one test of a self-driving truck on public roads last year in Nevada, and two years ago, also in Nevada, there was a successful test of a truck platoon. (See New Technology Promises Improved Safety and Better Mileage Rates by Platoon Trucks.)
(See more below)
Category Sponsor: SOFTEON
Automated braking for trucks in the United States is likely still many years away
Although recent agreements between federal safety regulators, the insurance industry and automakers will put life-saving automatic braking systems on most light-duty vehicles by 2022, it will be many years before larger trucks and commercial vehicles get the same technology.
These new systems — which are just starting to appear on passenger cars — recognize that a car or light truck is about to collide with another vehicle or other obstacle from behind and automatically apply the brakes.
The European Union now requires forward collision warning and automatic braking on most new heavy-duty vehicles, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Traffic, but U.S. regulators are taking a slower, more cautious approach that could delay the rollout by years, Heavy Duty Trucking magazine recently reported.
The Department of Transportation first wants to ensure the technology is safe for use on large platforms before granting regulatory approval, which will likely slow the deployment of such systems in the United States by many years.
With more than 10 million commercial vehicles on American roads, there is widespread agreement that this is an important safety issue. Trucks are involved in accidents resulting in about 4,000 deaths per year, although many of these accidents are not the fault of the truck driver and/or do not involve an end-of-read collision that this technology could prevent.
However, an IHS study found that automatic emergency braking, or AEB, reduces rear-end collisions by 39% for cars compared to similar cars that lack the option. For rear-end crashes with injuries, the reduction is even greater, at 42%, so the opportunity offered by technology in general appears significant.
Crash prevention systems like AEB would reduce truck fatalities by about 44% to 47%, according to the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.
That’s why four major industry groups are demanding that AEB become a standard in the trucking industry.
Last month, the Truck Safety Alliance, Center for Auto Safety, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, and Road Safe America filed a petition asking the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to make AEB mandatory for new trucks.
Do you think this truck disassembly concept holds great promise? What are the disadvantages? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.
Your comments/feedback
